I didn't get much time to tinker today, unfortunately. I took the carb off and made a shorter manifold out of wood with no better results. The needle lifts fine, and the choke turns on and off fine. Way less oil leakage today, though. The highlight of the day was when a muffler fell off on my street, at 5mph of course, and the neighborhood kids all offered to help push me home. I had some spare shorties loosely bolted on to keep the noise down... This thread IS turning into a saga, and I appreciate all your interest/ideas/advice.