Yep, put a rebuilt starter on it.

Did not get to test the compression this weekend, but playing with it a little bit I've noticed the following. After it has sat for a day or two, when I start cranking it, the motor turns real nice (fast), puffs of smoke are coming from the stack, it gets to a point where it seems as though it is going to fire, and the motor stalls. I have to let up on the starter button, hit it a few more times to coax the engine past this stall point, and then the starter spins the engine around at a good pace. All this happens in about 10 seconds or so. I don't get any more puffs from the stack after this (normally), but if I put some starting fluid in the carb, it will repeat the nearly fire up - stall routine. 

I'm still thinking that there is something I have not set right or cleaned well enough in the carb when I rebuilt it. Set the float to 1/4&quot;, didn't mash on the needle. I'm wondering if I need to use a hand held twist drill and work on the passages a little more. The carb was a mess of rust and dried gas when I opened it up. Maybe I didn't get all the jets as clean as they need to be.

Any thoughts on this behavior are appreciated. My work day and commute don't let me get home 'til 8:30 - 9:00 PM, so more than likely it'll be the weekend before I can hit it again.