>>>*I would discount the timing chain being off a tooth, the report of nice offroad response suggests that you are running her a tad harder rpm's and probably in lower gears when out in the outback.

A lot of driveability issues relate to loading, for example the fellow that likes to glance down at the sweet young thing in the next lane might have a set of 38's, of course then he is way down on RPM and no matter what we do we can't fix that with a cam and head.

Looking for rich/lean or variations at different throttle settings can be a clue, I bet Tod picked up instantly on the "16-17 MPG" and he knows that is down from normal about 10-15%. Of course different drivers have different size right feet so who knows there.

The part that doesn't set quite right is the nice report of offroad, but poor torque on the highway? That has just a couple of possibles, either you run different tire/wheels offroad????

Or you drive differently on the highway...Lot's of folks do drive differently on the highway, something about "rules" and little signs.

The report suggests a mild need for a gearing change, but you could have issues like ignition timing responding slower as RPM comes up, things like that.

A dyno test will indicate rich/lean or timing concerns, at the minimum tell you where the engine wants to run, then the trick is to use that rpm band. That could be as simple as dropping a tire size or so..

These little engines really do manage to handle way more than the tiny size suggests, but throw too many straws on the old Camel's back, and we all know the result..

*BTW: Anybody shows up around here with beer, we are probably going to end up out on the jetty trying to catch a lingcod...*LOL**...Or down on a secret (really!) mud flat I know about digging up Horsenecks....*EB