Honda Gxv120 Rebuild-mystery part?

Boats.net came through on my Honda parts a little more than a week after ordering them. Not bad, and they really did seem to have the lowest prices. So today I picked up some assembly lube, a piston ring compressor, a 3/8ths torque wrench and went to work. First came putting the piston back into the cylinder-not too bad a job, just be VERY careful to align the rings with the mark facing "up." My mark was a "N" instead of a "T" but I think I got it right.
 
Next was the crankshaft (lube it up, drop it in the bearing) and the the connecting rod cap. When you tighten the connecting rod bolts, make sure you are using a torque wrench! The space you have to work in is really tight so I actually went and picked up a new one for the occasion. The sears store only had a 3/8ths drive, but a 1/4" probably would have worked even better if I had thought ahead and ordered it online.

After the crankshaft and piston are back together, move on to the camshaft. Make sure the dots line up, the lifters are back in their slots, and drop it in. I didn't mark the lifters as I took them out...but they appear to have no wear and be identical.

So far so good...until I found a mystery part! Shit, I hate it when that happens! Here is a picture of the little sucker:

This little guy shows up in the parts sheet on boats.net as a "pipe, oil defense" in the cylinder head parts diagram.  Unfortunately, it shows up nowhere in the manual, and in the parts diagram it is off in the corner by itself...no clue to where in the cylinder head it lives. Hmmm...so dear readers, anybody know where things thing goes?

Tools used to reassemble the gxv120 piston, crank and camshaft:

1/4-Inch Torque Wrench
Piston Ring Compressor
Engine Assembly Lube

Sources for HR214 Parts and HR194 parts

So I've been collecting sources for honda parts, I thought I'd stick them in a single post to keep things neat and clean. Sources below, with links.

• Plano Power-Texas based, parts catalog is pretty easy to navigate, but they sent me an incorrect part and claimed it was my fault. Shipping seemed pretty high too.

• Boats.net-Looks like these guys aren't really focused on honda lawnmowers, but they do carry the parts, and Bryanst1 says they have the best price. Looks like you can chat live with a rep...kinda cool.

• Honda dealerships-You can get a listing of local honda dealerships/service centers here, but you'd better call ahead because its pretty rare that something is in stock for a 20 year old mower. If you have the part number from either boats.net or plano power, you can make sure they aren't hurting you too badly on the price too.

• Ebay-With a mower this old, I've been keeping an eye out for cheap used parts, or even new old stock.

• Craigslist.org-Just scored some wheels and transmission parts...tons of the hr194 and hr214 were made and sold, so they still wind up on C-list

Breather hose for gxv120

This post is for Vocegrande! He's missing a breather hose off his hr214, so here are some pictures that might help him find a replacement. It looks like a regular fuel hose from the auto parts store would do a pretty good job of replacing it...but if your engine blows up, don't blame me ;)

Let us know how the new coil works out Vocegrande!

Honda hr214 parts arrive!

The piston rings, blade, head gasket and tires all arrived today. I got the parts from plano power, and am happy with the cost and speed of delivery, but they included a wrong knob! So I'm waiting to see what they'll do. In the meantime, I got the tires put on; what a hassle! You wouldn't think that two bits of rubber would need a half an hour to install, but it took all of that and some sweat. Here is the offender:

Pro-tip: Use two screw-drivers like tire-irons to slowly pull the rubber over the plastic. Whew!

Mentioned in post:
Honda Tire for the HR214