OK so update here! I had my neighbor come over (old mechanic) and he dialed things in MUCH better. Apparently i was running WAYYYY rich (over 6 turns on one idle screw). A little adjusting on the mixture, adjusting the idle screw, and tightening the carb to get a better seal all helped improve things. I'm still getting a stall initially if i don't keep the gas up for 10-15 seconds or so right when i start. but then it runs much better. He said to look into replacing the carb gasket because it's one of those extra thick ones and sometimes those degrade and can leak.