That's generous of you Ted, but my interest is limited to finding out if my guess is right. Our best hope of solving that is having another member recognise it and tell us who made it. Other than that, I think that thick base would make useful aluminium scrap for someone less aesthetically sensitive than I am, to take to a scrapyard.
I am ambivalent about those side valve Hondas. To me, they are a bit better than the equivalent Briggs engines, but I only really like the pushrod ones. In fact, I have more enthusiasm for chondas than for any kind of side valve mower engines.
