The velo stack appears to be just as I thought...smoke and mirrors. Maybe there is some advantage on large engines but it doesn't amount to much on the 180. It mutes the reed sound some because it is located inside the fuse

One thing about choking the carb using the finger, it is much more effective than the baffle. Rocking the prop 15-16 times with finger choke, promptly flooded the thing.

I think it may only need 3 or 4 cycles and would be ready to fire.