I think y’all are right that there is some type of air leak somewhere.
I took this video. I am making progress with it I feel. I finally got it to crank up and stay running long enough to warm up.
I could crank it with chain brake on and it would “idle” without choking it. It would stay “idling” for awhile. I cut it off after a few minutes. However, if I took the brake off (no choke) it would just run like a bat out of hell. No amount of adjusting the idle, H,L jets would do a damn thing. Based on this I feel like y’all are right and it’s sucking air in from somewhere.
So at this point I still think y’all are right that it’s a vacuum (air leak issue). I called around and couldn’t find anyone that knew what I was talking about when I asked for a “vacuum test”.
So I either buy a vacuum testing kit...or...if I was a betting man...the leak is between the carb and where the carb meets the intake (e.g. it didn’t seal properly?). If that’s the case buy the carb/carb kit with that seal and give it a try?
If you recommend the former and pinpointing the leak, can you recommend a vacuum kit from amazon?