Got it going today! New plug. Blew everything out with air. Took the tank and carb off, cleaned and reinstalled. Changed the oil (twice... the second time after the oil was good and hot)and did a Sea Foam treatment. It was a bit difficult to start, but once running, it was fine. Although it had a pretty widely oscillating tempo. Fast and slow... fast and slow. But later in the afternoon, I bought a new air cleaner to replace the totally ruined one that was on it. Actually... I had been running it without the air cleaner to facilitate the Sea Foam treatment and I also doubted that it would even run with the gummed up old filter. Anyway... with the new air cleaner on, the oscillating tempo was gone... ran as smooth as could be! I didn't get to the points today. Where I got my parts, they had the replacement coil that does away with the points. It was $36... didn't buy it. But might, if you think it would help with the starting. I do have to yank on the cord quite a bit to get it running. BTW... last night, I didn't have much hope for the engine as my compression test showed only about 50 lbs. But it sure doesn't run like it has low compression. Thanks to all for your suggestions. Perhaps I can keep this little engine running for a long time.

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your experiences! The flower beds are untouched clay! Its a 2 yr old house and nothing has ever been planted in the beds. Weeds are growing like crazy though! Huge 2 foot diameter weeds that we've been clearing out! We are nailing weed cloth (the 20 yr kind) to the bottom in over lapping layers and we'll lay it down between the beds as well for walkways to get to the trellises. If I do the rebar, they'll be back along the house with the boxes in front of them basically. There is little risk of tripping on them. The rebar sounds appealing as its pretty cheap. Can rebar be bent? I'm wondering if I could use it as a stake to secure the front of the beds to the ground and secure the back with the hardware to drill onto the beds? Or maybe it would be better to not drill them on to the beds so there is no way they could be ripped out of the wood box if the trellis did go down in a wind storm. Hmmm, the rebar would look pretty unsightly in the front though wouldn't it! Maybe I'll go walk around and see if there are more attractive and cheap options!

I live in a small (10-unit) self-managed co-op. There's talk of whether we're going to be required to install sprinklers in the basement laundry area (we have 2 gas dryers, and 2 washers). It's not a definite enough thing that I feel comfortable asking a plumber to give up his time and give us a bid, but i wondered if anybody here knows. How much would it cost to install sprinklers over those dryers? I don't think we need them anywhere else. And of course, the water pipes are right there; everything's bolted to the walls, so easily tapped.

No we won't agree because you are blaming the failure of a fastener on the specification and/or the engineer who set it when it is the stupidity or ignorance or incompetence of the person torquing the fastener that is causing the failure. Don't confuse field experience with production line experience. Production line sequences are detailed down to the last movement. If the torque spec calls for anti seize then it is applied and torqued to the correct spec for that circumstance. If the sequence doesn't call for anti seize then there is none at the assembly point and the torque spec is correct for that circumstance. If the loose nut on the end of the torque wrench does not understand the specification then they should put down the wrench and back away. If they are being paid to tighten the fastener then they should be fired when the fasteners fail in the field if it is not correctly torqued. Service manuals are not a how to, step by step, instruction guide for DIYers. Tech writers write service manuals expecting the reader to already be a competent mechanic and often leave simple universally understood (by professionals) steps out of a procedure. If there's no instruction to use a thread lubricant and one chooses to use a thread lubricant like anti seize that choice should be accompanied by the knowledge of how to use it. When we're talking about what one does to their stuff in their own garage that's a different story. If the dry torque spec on a flywheel bolt is 100 ft lbs dry and one wants to use anti seize one has to modify that torque spec for the use of anti seize. If one doesn't understand that then a resulting failure is their fault whether one was lazy, stupid, ignorant , or incompetent and not the fault of anti seize or the engineers who set the dry torque spec.