I'll play around with it more and see how it goes. My idle screw is turned out about 1 1/4--1 1/2 turnes. I go any more in or out and it startes to stumble. It seems to like it there for some reason. Pretty lean compared to other engines/carbs I've had. But this is the first slant I've dealt with.

On the needle movement note. I have no idea. It jumps only 2 marks. I know a moving needle can indicate an internal problem like rings,springs or valves. It dosent burn oil, exhaust is not black or smokey, just normal exhaust. I do have a sticky lifter that acts up at times, but mmo with the oil changes have been helping clean things up. Once the weather warms up more I will be pulling the valve cover off to see how much it cleaned up before I take the rockers off and manually clean it all. I'm just trying to avoid pulling the head if necessary