I was thinking that may be the case as well.

I saw on A-mains reviews that Kurt Wenger says to seal around the outside of the carb and not inbetween the case/gasket/carb. So I may have to try that and see where it gets me.

I also have a small feeling it's just my lack of tuning experiance, causing me to have a hard time finding the proper starting point for this carb. As I'm reading a few other threads now with guys having all kinds of trouble with lean bogs or tuning issues.