I hand started my Homelite conversion last week with less than 10 flips. Didn't have time to completely tune it, but it idled ok and came up to speed ok. It needed more tuning on the high end, but I didn't have time. Today was a completely direct story. Wouldn't start by hand or with an electric starter. When I disassembled the new chain saw it came out of, I damaged the gasket under the plastic carb mount and had to cut one from 1/32 Felpro Karropak gasket material. The motor started after replacing this gasket with natural rubber, but I don't think this was the problem. We finally got the engine to start and idle reasonably well with the low speed needle set at about 2 turns out. The problem, now is that the high end won't come up to speed, it just seems to starving for gas and will die at anything over a half throttle setting. Turning the high speed needle anywhere from zero to 4 turns out doesn't help. At the zero open setting, it did seem like we could open the throttle further before it would want to die.

I have three ideas as potential problems, but would like some feedback or suggestions.

1. The gasket at the crankcase parting line could be damaged since the bottom was removed to cut off the oiler flange.
2. The rubber replacement gasket under the carb wasn't cut "exactly" to the shape of the airflow passage into the cylinder head and could be affecting air flow. (I don't this is the problem, but it needs to be cleaned up for peak performance.)
3. The small hole from the cylinder through the carb for working the fuel pump (I believe that is what it is for) got squeezed to a small opening when the carb was tightened (some what soft natural rubber) thus restricting the airflow. Could this slow the fuel flow at high speed? The engine seemed to prime ok.

The started and ran fine before the chain was disassembled.

Most likely problem is #3, yes..............

Also gas will turn the natural rubber into a gummy substance in a short time. A cardboard like poster board or cigarette box would work fine.

Thanks for the feedback. I got it running today. Replaced the natural rubber gasket with paper, the small hole for fuel pump pressure from the cylinder was nearly blocked, and I resealed the crankcase. It started almost immediately with the electric starter and ran well. Only ran half a tank of fuel through it, but will run it more before tuning it. It is running 6700 rpm with an 18-10 prop with about 20 minutes of total run time.