Skara

Worst case it's a reshim and slight modification to the pistol grip (or a new pistol grip altogether) to achieve a proper engagement angle.

Very odd.. Do you happen to have an amp meter you could plug to check the power consumption? My experience with 22tpa motors is limited to the good ol' ZCI one (bought from Pete when Brexit wasn't a thing) and it didn't pull more than 13 amps in full auto on a 7 tooth DSG. on 13:1s it pulled 12 amps and no sign of overheating even after full mags spammed in semi.

Nah, piston has no part in this. The nozzle resting position is set by the position of the sector gear after a shot, the position of the tappet cam, the dimensions and shape of the delayer if present and the shape of the tappet plate. All my guns have the nozzle fully forward when in their resting positions, others have it fully retracted, most guns have it somewhere in between.

Phone mics for some reason like to enhance high pitch noises, but overall it looks like it's a little too tight.

When shimming the sector gear you will need to take into account what components it interacts with: On one side you have the spur gear, on the other side you have the tappet plate and on top you have the piston rack. Spur gear interaction is easy, shim the sector low enough to have a tiny gap between the upper flat side of the spur and lower flat side of the sector. Rack is also easy, as most piston racks allow for plenty of movement anyway. Tappet plate is where it gets tricky. At first, have the gearbox with just the tappet plate installed, close it and check if the plate moves freely, if not the plate needs slight trimming. Then open the gearbox, install the shimmed sector gear and close again with the tappet plate. Tappet plate should be able to still move freely while the sector gear is in there, also try to rotate the sector gear as if it was actually cycling the piston and check for binding. Should there be rubbing, you will need to lower the sector gear. I recommend using 0.15mm shims along with 0.1/0.2s because you get an extra level of adjustment.

As a non native english speaker (more like I can read and write okay, but when I open my mouth I sound like a demented australopithecus), it has always puzzled me how easily y'all can fuck those up....

Just make sure you get the pinion/bevel meshing right, as most of the gear noise comes from those two.. Having good meshing also ensures that the energy transfer from the motor to the rest of the gearset is as smooth and less violent as possible. At the same time do not shim the sector gear too high in an attempt to get the most contact surface between teeth, it's a common mistake that leads to the tappet plate rubbing and binding against the sector and that is bad for air seal and in general tappet plate longevity.

13:1 for me. Any 22tpa motor can pull pretty silly springs without any issues, pulling 13:1s at UK powers won't strain them in any way possible unless you get a lemon motor, but if you're buying from @ak2m4I'm sure he'll provide excellent service should anything happen. For reference, at 0.99J a 22tpa + 13:1 setup powered by a 11.1v will produce around 30 rps and a VERY snappy semi, on 7.4v performance will be similar to a stock gun on 11.1 (so 20ish rps). 22tpa + 18:1 ratio is going to be painfully slow and it'll feel like you just wasted money. Also your X-ASR will be fine.. It's not the greatest electronic unit out there, but it is "free" (read already included with the gun) so use it and replace with a better ETU once it breaks.

Keep in mind that past a certain bb threshold those mags really take a toll on AEG nozzles. ALL of them, some brands more than others but it's still an issue.

I would avoid T238 motors, they have a rather high failure rate.. Go Solink or Warhead, these are the two with the less shit quality control of the bunch. A much more cost effective way of upgrading your AEG is to set a very definite goal first, then look at different ways to achieve said goal and choose accordingly. Swapping random parts without a precise plan often leads to waste of money and time.

Nope, it's only those three grub screws. Luckily it has anti rotation tabs which effectively lock it in place and prevent loosening.

I had the Core version (now it's completely different). Barrel not being aligned is pretty common, maybe one of the three handguard retaining grub screws is tighter/looser so it pushes the thing out of alignment. Regarding shimming, the one place where most of the noise comes from is the bevel and pinion area, they are also the weakest link in the chain so it's very important to get them right. There are multiple guides over the internet to shim those two components, I'll post the two that I found to give the most comprehensive information:

The only brushless motors that come with unidirectional bearings (effectively eliminating the need for a mechanical ARL) are the Solink Advanced and V5 motors (the latter is also known as G5 under Gate's branding). Unless using the aforementioned motors it's utter bollocks to remove the ARL, so is a mechanical decocking feature like the one found on ICS guns because all these do is damage the tappet plate. It's much better (and safer for the gun's internals) to have an electronic decocking feature where the gun fires one shot with maximum AB to stop the piston fully forward.

Doable, but I found that past a certain threshold (say 30 rps) it's much more convenient to build a DSG instead. I managed, by mistake, 36/37 RPS on a single sector gear running off 12:1s and 36k warhead but I had to shortstroke the sector by 4 teeth to achieve proper timing.. You will need a very good tappet plate and spring because the poor thing will be the most stressed component as it has to reciprocate at ludicrous speeds almost 40 times a second.

I kinda like the short fixed stock, I wish I had a tan/fde one to match but heh, 'tis just a test.