That's just embarassing....

Yeah... that's why it wouldn't start.

Last week I fixed the loose muffler and replaced the gasket.

No words.

So once I fixed that she started and runs perfectly. But of course I didn't notice the gasket when I took the engine completely apart, cleaned and rebuilt it. It was as I was putting the muffler back on, the first off-last on part, that I  noticed the gasket. The other good thing is that the black tank stopper was indeed leaking, so I replaced it with a brown gas compatible stopper.