Brianator
Gettin' er done!
is the flywheel key sheared?
I was wondering that myself. Even a partially sheared key can throw timing off JUST enough to mess with you... been there, suffered that! Something you can try quick is remove the pull start and spin the flywheel backwards into compression, this bypasses the compression release. If it has enough compression that it bounces back it SHOULD have enough to run. REMOVE THE SPARK PLUG BOOT TO BE SAFE! Did you get to checking the piston rings for sticking and wear?