I'm gonna tear the carbs apart tomorrow, but wanted to know if this is the place to start. I'll squeez the primer ball when it's happening, and this has no effect, so I'm assuming it's not a fuel pump issue. Any last thoughts before I tear the carbs apart would be great. It turned out to be a faulty tank hose connector on the tank end. As far as I can recall the squeese bulb went a bit limp.
Fuel pumps are easy to rebuild.
The kits are cheap,and it only takes an hour or so from start to finish. Well, tore the carbs apart and cleaned them out. The line off the tank to the engine is new, so the bulb feels pretty solid. I ran the engine in a converted trashcan, and she did quite well, actually better than she did with the muffs on before I cleaned the carbs. But I'm optimistic, seeing the difference between yesterday and today.