I'm not going to write the saga now because it will kill my neck
But now here goes nothing.
First to recap: ACE had my head all winter - totally reshaped combustion chamber, vastly improved flow numbers, supersized Kibblewhite valves, beehive springs, ceramic coatings, 9.8:1 compression (from the reshaping, not from any piston work), aluminum intake manifold.
While the head was away I bought a Mikuni TM 32 flat slide. Totally new to me. I took it apart at least three times & learned what I could. Devilish spring. Ordered jets from Jets-R-Us. Ordered a throttle cable.
So - got it all together & started on the 2nd kick & the initial ride seemed to point to this being all marvelous. Well, no.
From then on it became a stubborn, erratic kick starter. I never could trust if it was going to start or not start & I started on an endless round of beginning at a turn or turn & a half out (with a #30 Pilot) & trying three or four start techniques at each quarter turn out & waiting at least a 1/2 hour or hour between tries. Noticed it would start more often in the morning (that's a hint).
So then I thought it was a dead battree. Got a new one. It started after sitting another few days (another hint).
So I replaced the #30 with a #27.5 - thought that might be it. Went through the whole incremental turning out of the mixture screw nightmare again. Nothing. Still unreliable starter. Went back to the #30.
So finally my lizard brain sez "Something else has GOTTA be amiss here. I am shovelling shit against the tide & killing myself".
Now to back up a little again. I have always been intrigued by the fact that the fuel line never looks like it has any fuel in it. So I look & see YES there is NO fuel showing just above the float bowl inlet so I sez "Let's dig into this a little".
So I shut the petcock off, pull the hose off the carb, turn the petcock on - nothing. Barely a dribble. Shift to Reserve. Nothing. So I huff & puff into the tube & I can barely make a bubble into the tank.
I drain the tank. Pull the petcock. No rust on the long tank filter. Go to the bench, remove the cheezy plastic filter bowl & filter, blow through it - wide open. I put the filter back in & the bowl back on, blow & I can't blow through it! What???
I take the tiny filter out, put the bowl back on & Wallah (I know) I can blow through it like it was a toilet paper tube. Don't ask me why. I don't know!
Long story short (or is it too late?) I reinstalled the petcock with no filter. Put a gallon of gas in & it started instantly. And it started instantly a 1/2 hour later & an hour later. I checked the plug a couple times during this "I don't believe this" phase & ended up at 3 full turns out (2 gave me a black plug) on the mixture with the #30 Pilot.
Don't ask me to explain why that little filter was restricting flow, but it WAS. Empirical evidence has proven it to me, but I still don't understand it. Why it was starting more often in the morning is that the bloody float bowl was filling up overnight from the anemic dribble & that's why on the 2nd or 3rd time that I managed to get it running it would die all of a sudden just like I had shut the key off.
When I returned from the ride today I had a nice light chocolate brown plug. Not totally accurate, I know, but I'm happy for now.
I AM going to try the #27.5 Pilot again now that I know it will start & run reliably. I think 3 full turns out just begs me to try the #27.5
That's my story & I'm stickin' tuit. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to .... modify