Bob, I thought you had found the problem to be the small spring left out from under the metering needle? If it is still flooding, do you ever get a pop before the cylinder gets flooded to much? Maybe no spark?

Also, the metering diaphragm must not be hard or misshaped. It must be turned so that the anvil hits the rocker arm of the metering valve.

If it runs but closing the mixture needle fully does not lean out the engine then the metering diaphragm has likely gotten too hard to function properly or there is dirt in the needle seat.

If it will not richen adequately, the pump is not functioning properly due to wore out pump diaphragm or pump valves. Also it has been documented that an acetate (bluish) pump will not pump adequately to provide fuel overhead for the engine to cool properly.