[davepl]

Sounds like something has always been amiss and now its just gotten to the point where you're not willing to overlook it.

To me, that means time to check the basics. Fuel pressure, float level, choke adjustment (and if you don't have a choke, you're already done), and so on.

I'm not accusing you of it personally, but I've seen a lot of "I removed all the driveability features of my engine and now its not very driveable".

In my mind everything should cold start perfectly and idle nicely and not overheat, unless you're at least in the 9s.