I tried taking the top off my carb today to have a look around but couldn't get the choke plates and rod through them to come out completely. But it looked like the float was moving freely from what I could see so I tried to fire her up again and it seems like that did the trick

. Must have just been stuck and needed a bump after 3 years.
I took her for a drive around the block, killed it twice, wasn't able to shift to second, but that is probably just my lack of ability to drive a stick very well. I'm a bit worried about the backfires though.
I'll start up a new thread when my next questions come up since they wont pertain to this subject area any longer.
Thanks all for the help!
