Ok, so I ran out of daylight. Tank is as clean as its going to get for now. Petcock is assembled and clean (with the missing filter found, cleaned, and reattached). Carb is sqeaky clean. Inline fuel filter and new fuel hose ready to go. Now just have to put it all back together and fill up, which is my plan for in the morning. We shall see :)

Will keep my fingers crossed while waiting for your update. Good luck.

Ok, I've after 30 miles here is where we're at. Fuel filter is installed (will be replaced soon because it is a paper filter and doesn't flow freely enough to feed the engine on run, but does fine on prime for now). Engine runs fine without choke. Revs up all the way through to full throttle. Still experiencing power loss at half throttle and above in all gears, but with worse effects in 3 and up. Torque seems really weak in first to start, but picks up just fine when it reaches about 5mph and will go to the top of the gear. Second gear will go all the way to the top of the gear as long as I do it slowly. I have to be at the top of two to go into three or else it drops down to about 20mph. I can accelerate VERY slowly to near the top of 3rd on flat or slight incline. I can reach the top in decline at about 35-40 mph but again, at half throttle it will start reving up high and I begin to decelerate. 4th and 5th are essentially not of functional use at the moment. I can maintain 40mph in 4th at the very bottom of the gear on flat ground or decline only and cannot accelerate at all beyond this point despite the engine revving up nicely. Any clues or suggestions at this point? Its doing significantly better now than it was, but it would be great to have it running at full strength... Thanks for all the help guys!

We need to get it running off prime. Air box, drain hose and air cleaner clean? Idle reset after warm up to proper specs.? Spark plug fouling out? Change fuel filter. Need to get proper fuel flow thru it to carb. I would start with the fuel filter!

Spark plug is great, airbox, drain hose, air cleaner all clean. It runs fine off of prime, but it pulls the gas from the carb slightly faster than it pulls gas through the filter, so it will start to starve. Its off prime when its not running. The only filters available around here are for systems with fuel pumps. Idles great.

Check lawn mower shops for filter. Alot of lawn equipment have filters that would work. most of the lawn equipment do not have fuel pumps.

Already checked. Not many places around here that sell stuff to do work yourself. The small engine shops around here just do the work and wont sell you parts. Had to go to the big box stores to find this one. I'll use it until I get one online.

I will do some brainstorming tonight. I think you are close to having it fixed. Wish you could change the fuel filter. If tank and petcock are clean, you could take out fuel filter just to see if it changes anything. just need a little gas line.

Go to Home Depot. They sell small engine parts and you can pick up a Briggs and Straton fuel filter.

Edit: Link to fuel filter on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-UNIVERSAL-...item51c0710d2a

:)

Mole, that is the exact filter I have installed. It is not letting enough fuel through fast enough to keep the motor fed.