David S.,
Beautiful job on your 127. And welcome to our forum.
Kraig, on older versus newer horsepower, the older engines were rated honestly. Lately, manufacturers "stretch the truth" on horsepower ratings. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) publishes small engine rating standards but due to loopholes in the wording, manufacturers can inflate their horsepower claims. As an example, when I worked for Tecumseh (the worst job I ever had), they built an engine called the Large Enduro, which was rated (on the decal) as 18 hp. On the dyno, it actually produced 13 hp on a good day! This was a 3600 rpm, wide open throttle (WOT) figure. Now on a governed engine, it never sees this condition, but more like WOT at 3200 rpm, where the engine is only producing about 11 hp.
Most small engine manufacturers price their engines by the horsepower decal. The bigger the number, the more $$$ they can charge. Engine displacement is always a better comparison figure to go by nowadays.