slight idle issues, and this broken piece. help me out

[turbocorrado]

2 weeks ago i picked up a 16ft v bottom starcraft. it came with this 15hp evinrude, model is e15renm im pretty sure the motor is from 1992. after a few new parts, ive got it running and it runs great. ive got 2 concerns and im not sure if they are related. when idling, when i take the hand control as low as it will go it stalls out, and the 2nd is this little red piece has a spring chilling on its own, and flops around. im assuming it is there to lock you out from starting it in gear??? where is the spring supposed to mount??

 

[AlTn]

the "hooked" end of the spring goes over that vertical piece of the sticking up < it's part of the starter spring cup > and this keeps some tension on the red plastic piece you refer to and does work as part of the lock out. Google Leeroy's Ramblings 9.9/15 maintenance and repair...about 1/2 way down the page is a pic showing it as it should be.
The low speed mixture needle needs to be about 2 1/2 turns out from a gentle seat on these models and that's just a ball park figure. You may have to fiddle with the idle set knob on the tiller handle while also adjusting the idle mix screw to achieve the best result.