My fuel line is direct and secure. It's attached to the tank with a barb and zip tie. There is no "T" section for a refueling port or inline filter either.

I have a friend with the DLE-30 that has no troubles cold starting and has not sealed the choke hole on his either. I think I will do this as my last resort now.

I'm thinking the cause is possiblythe felt clunk or that my low end is slightly lean. I should also add that when the engine is hot (such as when I shut it off and then immediatly attempt a restart) it can also take about 5 flips, sometimes more to get it going. Although it has started warm on rare occasions on the first or second flip. This would be a symptom of being too lean on the low needle correct?

Thanks for the help, will report back.