I have a 55 pilot jet and 152.5 main jet.  This change was called for by the RYCA conversion instructions due to the type of muffler and air filter that were swapped in place of stock muffler and filter.  

Elevation in my area is about 600 feet.  The jet combo I have in there was performing well before I encountered the sudden engine failure that I am currently troubleshooting.

Raptor petcock arrives Monday, so will replace that and pull the carb to check float mechanism early next week.

Still researching what I should be looking/checking for on the float mechanism, so any suggestions on that are welcomed!

I also discovered that the source of the gas expulsion during start attempts after engine failure was almost surely from the carb vent tubes, which makes me even more strongly suspect there may be an issue with my float valve.

Thanks batman. That gives me a much better idea about what to look for while inspecting the float valve.

I think this is this the spacer mod that you mention:
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1104205157

When I did the carb mods, I just followed the instructions in this RYCA video:
https://youtu.be/rFFuF9QZ4IM

The spacer mod is addressed at 3:56, so I think I'm all set there, but will read up more in the tech section to make sure my spacer is set up ideally.

Is that a rubber tip? not use to seeing that ,I can't remember ,but I think mine is all metal .  before you buy new,you might try testing it by hooking up the fuel line to the carb,with the bowl off, and try holding up the float (gently) to see if the valve holds . but generally the tip should be cone shape , that makes the entire length of the cone a sealing surface ,where as the tip your showing here can only seal the width of that small grove. A new  valve comes as a matched set the valve ,seat and the O-ring for the outside of the seat. I think I'd go new.

If that is a round ridge in the rubber......the float valve looks crappy to me.  It should be a smooth rubber cone without ridges.

Can you get hold of it with Channel lock pliers or vice grips.
Or perhaps penetrating oil overnight with a bit of heat, hair dryer?

Carbs are very expensive! Good luck.

Hot dang!  So I took a mini hacksaw and very carefully cut a straight slice into the head of the screw and used a flat screw driver (with some penetrating oil) to pop that sucker out.  Float valve filter was totally clean.

Lesson of the story I guess is get a JIS screwdriver set and use penetrating oil BEFORE stripping the screw.

The OEM screw replacement is only $1.99, so I am relieved this mistake was not more costly.

HUGE THANKS Dave!

Caferacer,
Talking about the ring around your float valve needle. Both Dave and I switch off our Raptor petcock a certain distance from home to empty the float bowl before parking the bike. This of course, drops the float relieving the pressure on the tip of the valve, which we hope will give it a much longer life. Also helping to prevent the float bowl from "crudding" up with evaporated fuel.

We are so smart we can't stand ourselves.