Hi Fat Dan,
it has been noted by myself and others that these small horizontal ponies generally will not start if the oil is fuel diluted in any amount and will also show signs of low compression.
In my experience simply changing the pony oil the engine will fire easily afterwards.
I also find that premium fuel/gasoline without alcohol lasts for a longer time than cheaper rating fuels.
Good luck with it.
Cheers,
Eddie B.
Thanks so much Eddy B I put your advice to good use and concentrated on the gas and oil in the pony.
The oil had gas in it and gas had water in it.
No end play on the pony crank . not sure about piston rod lash.
also the cylinder valves were open which will help greatly with compression.
the carb was dry and dusty but needed a good scrubbing and gaskets n freshened jetting ports
old style cork float, valve n seat in good working order
the tank's petcock and petcock port were plugged with water, rust, goop .
the Zink water separator and petcock were completely plugged and has lots of pitting damage from water.
the small brass leaf filter was gone.
opened the drain on the bottom and took off the petcock and northing came out ... tank was full. t
when the dam broke it puked gack n gas
scoped the tank and looked fair ... cleaned up nicely supersized
