Darryl, the two guys came from different work areas so they chose not to interact directly. And I was a third fool involved: I saw the car blocking the fire escape and asked one of the motor mechanics who worked for me to move it, then left it to him how to do it. That made it more my fault than his. Then I got to discuss the matter with the guy who had taken the carb while leaving the keys in the ignition and the car in the fire escape. He did not work for me - it was all very stiff-upper-lip, kind of like a couple of dogs circling around each other.
Webby, see if the engine speeds up when you start to close the choke. If it does, it is running too lean without the choke. If it seems to run smoother but not faster, that is a different problem: 2 strokes usually run very badly with no load, and they can tolerate rich mixture pretty well. Half-closing the choke may just have the effect of half-closing the throttle.
