Dan,

I did a lot of reading on this engine before I bought two of them (not flown yet, hope they work good this spring, we have snow now). Mine were purchased with the 201WT carb on them. The majority of the starting problems are fixed by replacing the 76 carb with a 201WT. With no exception, all the posts I have read state a major improvement or total problem solved by going with this carb. Most were starting problems.

Are you using the preferred method to start the engine the first start of the day? I think it's as follows:

1) Ignition off, choke on, WOT, flip 5 times.
2) Ignition off, choke off, WOT, flip 5 more times.
3) Ignition on, choke off, high idle, flip once and it should start.

There are tons of posts on RCU about this engine if you like using the search engine.