I would get yourself a few 60 watts bulbs (standard incandescent) for a load a try things again. These small units are designed so when the engine RPM is 3600 they should output about 120 VAC @ about 60 HZ. I say about because they are not a very exacting science. I have an old Coleman Powermate 4 KW (5 KW Surge) and under normal running my 120 is around 126 and my 240 is a little over 250 VAC. There isn't much to them or much room for adjustment. A 120 VAC bulb running at around 130 VAC will just have a shorter life. Anyway, try a light load like a 60 watt or two bulbs and see what you get. Additionally as debe mentions there is a cap in there, mine I "think" is 100 uF and a few diodes for field excitation. You can try as suggested a few other capacitor values and see what you get. While I have never messed with the smaller 2.5 KW versions my experience has been that these things do work, not great and not highly well regulated but they do work, especially during emergencies when you really need power. Worst case you will pop a few bulbs at a buck apiece.
Ron