They are a #$%* to work on and kind of a pig to ride, unless you want to go straight ahead. (which they will do rather quickly.) I think they did 10s in quater mile.
They are pretty reliable if they've had the oiling mod, otherwise camshaft wear can be a problem.
Because of the power, the transmission can be easily abused by hack drivers. It seems pretty common for 2nd (or more) gears to go out.
The idle problems are likely carb related, taking those off and on isn't much fun at all and require lots of disassembly just to get to them.
When they work well, it's a grin making machine, though.
