George,

I can't disagree with you since it's definitely out of my scope of knowlege.
I don't have any axe to grind on the subject either, my post was merely an
attempt to pass on what I'd heard from someone who was "supposed to know",
i.e. a factory guy.

It sounds like your friend and "guru" certainly knew what he was talking
about. It's just a shame there's so much contention on the subject. Some
years ago, I had an engine overhauled by a FBO wrench who'd been in the
business for over thirty years. While chatting in his shop one day, I asked
what had happened to the big Continental sitting on his build-up stand. His
comment was that the owner couldn't keep an engine in his airplane because
he insisted on "pinching on the fuel flow" (his words). I asked what he
meant and he said the guy always ran it lean. How lean? Who knows, and from
what you tell me, probably not at the proper LOP settings.

Regardless, as long as there's so much "we've always done it that way"
mentality in the aircraft community (which is another way of saying "don't
confuse me with the facts), it appears that this debate will not go away.

Dan Schaefer