Hi, Scott et al:
Well, the coil made no difference.  I know what you're going to think after I tell the rest of the story, but I fixed it by throwing out a part.  I can't get the site to let me upload images.  I get a little box on the screen with the name of the file and a little status spinner in the upper left that never goes away.  The picture is only a 150KB jpg, so it isn't too large.   Can anyone help with that?  I've tried dragging and dropping, selecting the file, both from the path at the bottom and from the links in the header bar.  Anyhow there is a metal spacer that was between the carb and a black plastic contraption that just has a couple of cable/fuel line holders on it.  It has silicone rubber molded around the inside edge of the metal, which is coming loose in several places.  It is odd shaped, and will only go on one way.  Sure wish I could post a picture....I think there is a chance that I didn't have it in the correct location in the stack. I can't find any  pictures to show how all those parts go in there.  
 
Anyhow, I just put the carb on there with the gaskets that came with it and threw that thing out.  Runs fine now.  Wowsers.  Just for grins, I pulled out the old carb and looked closely at it.  There are no differences between the 2 carbs on either mating surface.  It looks like I might have a little hole lineup issue with that out.  It was !/8" thick or thereabouts.  I'll get that worked out, though.
Best
Mike

Re your first question about posting pic's.
go to Postimage: https://postimg.cc/files Open a free acct and upload pic's there.
Then use the "hot links: for forums and it should post:

You said there was silicone sealer on that intake manifold gasket? And a gap? Seems you found you smoking gun, major air leak causing crappy running. Might want to remove the plastic/composite intake manifold and check for warpage too...

Any BTW, most larger machines don't have adjustable carbs due to EPA crap.
Most chain saws, edgers, etc, do
 
Re-reading you post I know exactly what parts your talking about- Honda uses that set up often 
and can a PIA to re-assemble correctly...
 
.

Hi, Scott:
The thing isn't a "gasket".  It's a steel spacer, about 1/8" thick.  I think it's only purpose was to make one bolt hole line up on top of the air filter assembly.  I really don't believe I had air coming in around it from outside.  I'm currently thinking I may have had it installed before the carburetor and maybe it belongs after the carb and before the air filter assy.  But I'm not sure.  Wherever it was, it was odd that my symptoms never changed from day one until today.  I've  never seen a carb mount where you had EIGHT layers, including the gaskets, between the cylinder head and the mounting nuts.  I took that thing apart maybe 12 times, and I can't deny I might have got it wrong.  Part of me wants to try it in a different place, but the thing is running fine.  I finally got my 1000 gal propane tank pressure washed, a job I started 3 weeks ago.  I think I'm going to leave it like it is.  At this point, I have no idea what the original problem was.  I never found anything wrong with anything.  For sure, I now have a lot of spare parts if anything ever fails in the fuel or electrical system!
Sure do appreciate all the time you spent thinking about this and trying to help.  I never saw a post from anyone else that I can remember.
Best
Mike

I like DeOxit cause it only takes 1 to 2 minutes for moisture to fully evaporate.