Hi again. So after hunting down a starter on ebay and waiting for it to arrive (used starter 27.00$ + 25.00 shipping) here is where I'm at. Installed starter, hooked up power,neutral, clutch in, hit the switch and it turned over really well. Ok... Pulled choke out and tried again,and again,and again. No fire. Opened up carb drain to make sure there was fuel in bowl. Yup. Tried a couple more times and got a couple bangs and a couple blow backs through the carb. Removed spark plug to check for spark. While I was turning it over to check spark I noticed a large amount of fuel blowing out of the cylinder. I have good spark btw. So I pulled the carb and brought it into the house for some kitchen table surgery.took off top and bottom, it looked reasonably clean. Cleaned as much as I could with half a can of seafoam (its all I had on hand) and a can of computer air. Put the jets back in and buttoned everything back up. Back out to the shed, reinstalled carb. On prime. Turned it over a couple of times and it coughed. Pulled choke (duh) and it fired and ran for about 5 seconds. Tried again and... Click,click,click... Drained battery!!!! Dang. But im happy that it fired up atleast. So battery is charging and im typing. I'm pretty sure I will have to do a real carb clean but man, I am so happy that thing fired up even though only briefly. While waiting for my starter I was having nightmares thinking I had bought something that was unsalvagable. But i see hope for it now and can't wait to start modding it. Plans are kinda up in the air for it. On one hand it will be my wife's bike and will get painted to match my vstar (silver with lots of chrome). On the other hand, maybe she won't like riding and it can become my bobber that I have wanted forever but never had the heart to strip down my vstar to do it.  Anyways, have a great day everyone...

Good advise verslagen. I have a sneaking suspicion the the original starter was on its way out before I even started... When I was trying it, it would only turn the motor over like 2 revs and then it would hang. Release starter button try again and the same 2 revolutions. I think the magnet was already cracked or the glue had already let go. Who knows. This starter spins that motor like no one's business. I'm gonna try a bit more tomorrow to see if I can actually make it run for more than a few seconds. Also gonna grab a can of carb cleaner so I can shoot it into the passages well. Question... When I took the carb apart today, I stripped the head out of the screw that holds down the plate and valve so that didn't get cleaned in there. If I cut the head off,do you think I will be able to grab that screw with vise grips and get it out? Someone has been inside there before me and the screw was a little wonkered to start. Now it's fully stripped out. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the tip dave. I have already been looking at that cable just to make sure the decomp was working. It is. And there is some visual slack in it. I suspect my starting problem lies in a dirty carb that sat for a long time. PO said the bike was running last summer (as told to him by the previous po) but it had a 2001 license plate on it so I have my doubts that the bike has seen much running for quite a few years. I'm just about to go out and give her another shot. We'll see what happens. Thanks.