Is the manifold 100% tight? Maybe it gets some air through the gaskets. Head gasket failure? Is the spark plug sitting tight - is the thread ok? Does it have good compression?
If nothing of above helps it may be a mechanical problem - the cylinder and piston rings could be worn out.

A lean condition is what requires you to apply choke. That's typically an air leak and you eliminated the carb by replacing it, but it can also be a mixture adjustment.

Example diagram, find your fuel mixture screw.

http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/honda-clone-predator-engines/48946-adjusting-gc160-governor-reduced-rpms-2.html

I suggest opening the fuel adjustment screw a quarter turn at a time and running the engine. You can start with the choke but of course the objective is "less choke, more fuel" until the engine runs correctly.

>>917081
Dump the gas, check the in tank fuel filter. It's a replaceable part, but you may have issues finding one locally.Clean it if needed, refill with fresh gas.

Now check the small bowl below the fuel shutoff lever, make sure it's not full of crud, and make sure the fuel flows freely.(a 10MM boxend wrench will do the job for most carb work on common Honda mills.)
If it does not flow when moved to "on", remove the fuel cap on the tank. If it suddenly flows, you need to replace the cap, and the carb is likely fine. (Some of the Honda EPA/CARB complaint fuel tank caps are notorious for not venting properly.)

Otherwise pull the main bowl and make sure the float is not stuck and that there is not a bunch of crud in the bowl. If you have corrosion or similar in the carb bowl and it's obstructing the main jet, you're better off just replacing the carb as a unit.

>>917269

The carbs on most of those Hondas are not really adjustable like an old Tillotson or similar. The base idle speed and to a very limited extent the idle mixture is all that you can adjust.

Make sure you are using pure gasoline not ethanol blend.

>>917340
The Hondas will run fine on your common 10% alcohol adulterated pisswater, but yes, given the choice feeding it "pure" gas is the best course.

>>917245
>>917269
>>917280
>>917340
>>917359
Thanks for all the replies. I didn't mention yet that turning the mixture screw to any other position does not help.

If I take off the gas line, it seems to pour out freely, so I think not that. I was considering some kind of air leak as the problem.

The motor doesn't have that many hours on it, so probably not the piston rings, but I hadn't thought about the head gasket. Maybe that or vacuum leaks after the carb.

Thanks again, it's too cold to work out there now, but I will look into these thing next time it needs to run.

>>917368
> I didn't mention yet that turning the mixture screw to any other position does not help.

If it's like the dozens I deal with, it only moves a fraction of a turn.

>If I take off the gas line, it seems to pour out freely, so I think not that.

If the new carb does not have the bowl under the shutoff valve, then make sure the main bowl is filling. Remove the drain screw from the bowl, and note how quickly it comes out. Even though it's flowing through the float needle, it should still come out at a good rate.

Since you've already had the carb off, you should double check your gasket and vent spacer.

>>917368
What is your elevation above sea level OP?

>>917280
>The carbs on most of those Hondas are not really adjustable like an old Tillotson or similar.
Well that fucking blows...

I guess if you troubleshoot everything and still find nothing wrong, you could rebuild the carb (again) and drill out the jets a bit.

Other places you might want to look before resorting to such measures:
>Fuel lines
>Filter
>Tank
Make sure all of these are clean and unclogged/unkinked.

Or if it makes enough power with the choke half engaged, then maybe just live with it.

>>917391
Around 800 feet above sea level. I have used many of this same motor (or close) for work on welders, pumps, other stuff and they run great at this altitude.

>>917941
No probs. Check for air leaks then. I know briggs have high altitude jets available for their carbs but 800 is not too bad.

>>917081
new plug gapped correctly, and adjust or replace the points

>>917947
>feet
Well that is stuff all then now I think of it.

replace the carb.
I have the same engine. It's cheaper to replace the carb than to rebuild it. New carb is $8.24 on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/HONDA-GX160-Carburetor-Replaces-16100-ZH8-W61/dp/B004W0EH1M

>>917986
If you read the thread you will see this has already been done.