Hi all!  I've been lurking for a while, thanks for all the tips and info.

My mom has a '98 savage and I have an '01.  Great bikes!

Moms currently won't start thought  :'(

History: '98, bought used with ~8000 miles, aftermarket exhaust and maybe more, like carb work.  Always been hard to start/warm-up.  Started acting worse, carb often flooded/leaking gas and sometimes requiring a rap or 2 on the bowl.  Sat for ~ 2 weeks and then wouldn't start at all.

Recently divorced, I have much more free time to help out my mom, so I decided it would be nice to rebuild the carb together.  I had tinkered on cars for years, and had a Clymers for our bike, looked pretty simple.  Tore it down, soaked it, blew it out, replaced the float valve and seat, reassembled.

Bike still won't start.  Tried PRI, no help.  Petc0ck seems to be working, good flow on PRI, stops on any other.  Checked spark & gap, both ok.  Trickle charged over night, plus tried booster.  Blew out air filter w/ compressed air.  Dropped bowl, was full of gas and everything seemed proper (and never overflows like before?).

A few times it did start and ran for about 15 seconds, with choke out all the way and no throttle, and then would die.  If I immediately tried to start it again, it wouldn't.  If I waited like 30 seconds, it would start right up and run for 15 again before dying.  But now it won't even do that.
 
Just looking for some advise on what to try next.

Edit: also meant to ask, could I just swap carbs between the bikes for testing?

Thanks Verslagen1.  I talked to mom this morning and she said she's never replaced teh battery (owned 4+ yrs), so I'm going to swap 'em tonight.  Now that I think of, it may have been with the booster that it ran for the 15 secs.  I don't have a voltmeter anymore (I'll pick one up), that may have helped troubleshoot.

Thanks again, I'll update tonight.

Well, it wasn't the battery.

When I pulled the plug, it was black.  It's what I expected considering the previous problems, but still seemed to be producing a nice spark in testing.  So I'm going to go pick up a plug and see if that helps.

If it doesn't, I'll probably swap the carbs tomorrow in an attempt to isolate the problem.  Maybe the earlier carb probs weren't necessarily the culprit for original failure to start.

Any other advise?  Thanks!

It starts with the new plug!

Runs terrible though, and won't stay running without throttle.  Will only start with the booster on, on her old battery.  I'll swap batteries again tonight and see if it improves.  I'm also going to start over with the idle mix and speed, I'm sure they'll need adjustments with the carb being cleaned.

Then we'll see how the new plug looks, and try to track down the richness.

Compound problems to begin with?  Sticking floats/valve, fouled plug, and dying battery? (though I guess they could all be connected too).  The sad thing is she had taken to the dealership just a few months before and spent over $400 (and not on tires).  Considering she has an old battery and the float valve looked terrible, I'm wondering what they did.  Even her air filter was nasty.

Thanks for the tips, and a place to bounce ideas.

easy way to check float level.  Do you have a drain nipple on the bottom of the carb?  put a length of clear tubing on and hold it up along side of the carb.  open the drain and gas should come up to the level inside the bowl.  Hold the bike level.  Put the petcock on prime.  The level should come up to the top of the bowl gasket.