Well, it looks like I probably sucked some debris up into my carb on my homey 25, the engine idles, but anything above 1/4 to 1/2 throttle and the engine dies very quickly. keeping my thumb over the carb barrel as a choke will keep it running, so it is being starved for fuel. fuel system checks out ok, so only the carb is left.

Anyway, anyone have any tips as to what to watch for when taking the walbro carb apart and cleaning it?

Take the rear cover off ( one screw) and clean the screen...It's not likely anything else would cause this....

One thing I have had success with. I bought a one gallon can of carb cleaner at Advance Auto. It has a small basket in the can to hold the parts, which is very convenient. I take the front and back cover off the carb and remove the two rubber parts, then i just drop the rest into the cleaner and let it soak for 15-30 minutes. this stuff will remove all the varnish and gummed up oil if there is any. Take the thing out and reassemble and you are good to go.

Eliminate this problem forever by using the clunk, filter that came with the wacker

well, took it apart, the screen was plugged with what looked like a wood fiberous material, which i have NO idea what it actually is. I had a sintered bronze clunk, now i'm going to give a screened clunk and inline filter a try.

Flush out the system and filter the fuel as you fill the tank, no inline filter required.