Well I tried hard not to get into political nuance. It's a topic which influences our current discussion, however.
Glort, you're very well informed about the history of diesels and other small engines. Thanks for your input on that. But please don't assume everyone from the U.S. is completely naive about global politics and how things work. I've been to every continent save Antarctica, at last count 25 countries, and have personally been to China to do product and factory inspections when we were thinking about importing and selling evacuated tube solar water heaters. To be told I need to open my eyes to the nuances of politics comes across as being a bit off key. And I also have no idea where you got the idea that I think Yanmar is Chinese. I never said or even implied that to be the case, and I already own one of their tractors. Also a Kubota and a Mahindra. Yes, I also know the Mahindra is Indian, not Japanese or Chinese.
Also, the reason I'm here on this forum with you guys in the first place is that this is an exceptional repository of knowledge by some fine folks who live and breathe internal combustion. Twice now I've been told to "Google it" as if I haven't put in the homework before asking questions. Yes, I could do all this on my own. And usually I do it all by myself. But what fun is that? How would I get the viewpoints of others who already have been steeped in the lore for decades? How would I learn about the questions I don't even know to ask? And also by asking the seemingly simple questions and having them answered here, they're saved for posterity. And I think you all can admit that it's at least a little bit fun to be able to show off your hard-won knowledge to the newbie and to each other.
To outsource the search for knowledge completely to Google while ignoring the people's knowledge is going to be one of the downfalls of civilization. The Lore should be kept alive from person to person, not outsourced to our Silicon Valley overlords.
