Hi MF, thanks for that info, and that's essentially what I was thinking.
If the previous owner put straight fuel in and caused issues and scored the cylinder and piston that's one thing and not a good thing no doubt... but in this case, it still has compression so while the engine may not be as smooth as it originally was it should still run.
I'll keep going with the troubleshooting and let you know how I go if anyone has any other thoughts please let me know.
My plan at the moment is as mentioned above the needle/seat, muffler, and now I would add to the end of the list replacing the piston/rings and honing the cylinder, though I really don't want to just randomly throw parts at it.
