A childhood friend of mine asked if I would do some work to his 031AV. It had a couple of cosmetic issues, the starter rope didn't retract, and it had been sitting for several years. After doing my 'pre-flight check', rectifying the cosmetic issues, and putting in fresh fuel & a new spark plug I fired it up. It started quickly and idled like a new saw. After an appropriate warm-up I tried to rev it and that's when the trouble started. I've worked on a bunch of these (insert expletive) and pretty much every one of them had either carburetor or ignition problems. This one is no different. My normal approach is the thoroughly clean the carb and try it again. If no improvement I check/clean/adjust the ignition system. If no improvement I get a carb kit. If no improvement I usually burn it and pizz on the ashes! (kidding). Anyway, I ran out of time in the shop this evening so I couldn't pull & clean the carb. I grabbed a quick video and figured I would post it to see what everyone thinks. I have a strong suspicion what the problem is, but before I get a chance to investigate let's play a little game... 031AV - Video
Condenser. I had one with a bad one and it would start and idle perfect. Try to rev it and it would sounded like it was flooding. I guess I'd say it was acting like a rev limiter and shutting spark off at a certain rpm.
Aw, come on, that's what polls are for... I'm not asking for advice, I've been down this road before, I just figured it's fun to get the members engaged.