J,
That is a nice looking Homey. There is a hole just above the exhust port that goes into the cylinder. I pull the cylinder and tap this with 10x32 tap. Then I run a bolt in until it bottoms out. Then I cut it flush and trim with a file. Be sure to cleanup any filings and reoil the bore,before reassembly. The carb venturi is small at 11/32nds(22/64ths). An 11mm(7/16ths) carb will help a bunch. You must open the carb insulator to 5/8ths to take full advantage of the new carb. These mods will give you the most bang for the effort and money spent. These engines run great with these mods, while keeping costs down. Checkout the conversion forum. This is where the answers are. Do a search on Homelite mods.

Dave