Moterhead, thanks for the poke. I have been reluctant to post until I had something positive to report, but here goes anyway. I received the new carb yesterday and it looked and felt good. I put it on the engine and opened the high needle two turns, and it would not start until the high-end needle was four turns out. This is unusual from my experience. Two to two and one half turns open should get the engine running. Once running I opened the carb barrel and the engine went lean, closed the carb and it seamed OK, I opened the high needle another half turn and opened the carb to WOT, same thing, but this time when I tried to close the carb the barrel stuck at about 3/4 open, so I pinched the fuel line and shut it down.

I completely disassembled the new carb and this is what I found. Using a strong magnifying glass I could see a sharp edges sticking UP from the sides of the metering grove. After filing these edges flush with the barrel surface, cleaning it all with lacquer thinner and applying a coat of clean oil it is now rotating smoothly. But this did now explain the lean problem. I used my squeeze bulb and forced air through the needle orifice and it was very hard to force air through it no matter where I set the needle valve. I took the old carb, the one what will not idle, and repeated the squeeze bulb test and much more air seemed to be flowing. With the barrel out and the needle valve removed I could see straight through the main brass end. I then removed the fuel nipple and could see only a small portion of the cross-hole that allows fuel to flow from the nipple into the needle valve seat. I removed the large nut from the main brass end and was able to rotate the brass piece until the cross-hole was in alignment with the fuel nipple opening. Put it all back together and now good airflow through the needle valve at two turns open.

What puzzles me is why the carb barrel seems to rotate smoothly at first but sticks after the engine is running??

Tomorrow I will install the carb and run the engine. I will let you know how it turns out.

oldbob