I now think you do not have governed idle, all that has happened is that Honda has applied the dreaded "value analysis" engineering approach and has found a cheaper way to make the idle speed adjustable. Look at the part of this picture that is circled in yellow:
[Linked Image]

Instead of having a screw to adjust the idle speed, you adjust it by bending the tang that is closer to the fixed stop on the carburetor.

When you have adjusted the governor, let's see whether it is able to work despite operating through a weak spring instead of a strong link. With the engine running and the speed control set to idle, the throttle butterfly needs to rotate anticlockwise when viewed from above, until the tang contacts the fixed stop. If it doesn't, we will need to look closely at the governor linkage setup.

Post Edit: There have been no posts to this thread for some time, so it has probably been abandoned. Frankly, I've suspected for some time that this engine should have the normal wire governor link running through the center of the anti-oscillation spring, and that link is simply missing, rather than not being required on this model of engine. I was hoping this theory would either be confirmed or disproved as the thread went along, but it has not happened.

Last edited by grumpy; 25/09/13 02:47 AM. Reason: Add post-edit