Hi Grumpy,
Thanks for all your help. I just saw your response after everything was back together, and you nailed it. It was a blown head gasket and both valves needed to be adjusted. I didn't have a spring compressor so I made a shim and placed it under the keeper with the valve open and then rotated the flywheel so that I could get a gap between the valve stem and the push rod. Then with a small file I filed it a bit at a time repeating this procedure until I got the proper gap. Put everything back together started it up and Bingo started great. Compression test was up to 100 psi. Unfortunately I didn't see your response until everything was back together so I didn't take a picture of the plate. if you combine the pictures I have sent it is possible to see how the choke link is tied in. If I have to take it apart again I will definitely take more pictures for the group, otherwise unless you really need it I will leave it as is and move on to a tiller and a trimmer I have been meaning to fix.
