I have an old Honda 215 mower and the shop near me keeps replacing the carburetor. It ran for years without a problem before that. Thinking that they're replacing it with a cheap knockoff, I ordered one from Honda.

I have a couple of questions:

Q1: Taking the carburetor off seems easy...except for the linkages. Do I have to bend them to get the carb off? There doesn't seem to be a way to do it otherwise.

Q2: Just playing with the linkages with the engine cold, there doesn't seem to be enough tension in the throttle linkage to open it up. If I push the throttle handle forward but not enough to close the choke, the throttle linkage doesn't move at all. Is this normal?