I'm sorry to hear about the multiple twisted-off bolts, Geno. If they are tight in the threads, they are difficult to fix at all, let alone without damage, so I understand your decision to scrap the saw.
Having confirmed that the problem is lean mixture, I would have wanted to investigate two possible causes, at a generic level. First, the one intake gasket you haven't checked could be leaking. To test that possibility without wrecking the gasket, I'd have suggested that you place a temporary bead of silicone sealant around the perimeter of the joint (that is, around the edge-line of the gasket, which is the only part you can see). Then, after letting the silicone set, you could see whether it produced an improvement. If it did, you'd know the gasket was leaking, and you'd have had to remove it, and track down or make a replacement. For what it's worth, I think leakage of that gasket was the most likely cause of the problem you had.
If it weren't the gasket, it would be a carburetion fault. The most practical way to deal with that is to just overhaul the carburetor, involving stripping it, cleaning it out by blowing carburetor cleaner through all of the passages (especially the idle progression holes), inspecting the two diaphragms and replacing them if necessary, inspecting the metering needle, checking and adjusting the metering lever height, putting it back together, and checking that the passage through the engine's crankcase that provides pressure pulses to the carburetor's fuel pump is clear. All that is a bit like watchmaking, but it isn't difficult work unless it turns out that you can't clear the idle progression passages or the nozzle check valve without removing the welch plugs. If you have to do that you'd need a more advanced carburetor kit than you'd be likely to be able to get, for that old machine.
If it makes you feel any better, I did the same overhaul on my line trimmer's Walbro WA carburetor last night. There were no difficulties except when I lost the metering lever spring for a while. The problem in that instance seems to have been a leaky intake pipe gasket - the pressure pulsation passage passed through that gasket and it appears to have been leaking to the intake pipe, making the mixture highly inconsistent and the machine sometimes difficult to start. To fix it without new parts I simply put the not-very-flat hard black gasket between two heavy steel plates under the press, and applied two tons force. That flattened it out nicely. Unfortunately the nett result was that the neighbours were serenaded by a line trimmer in full cry at 10 a.m. on Good Friday.
Thanks for coming to us at Outdoorking, Geno. By all means come back if we can help you in the future. I'll close this thread.
