Yes it starts cold with no choke, takes a few kicks though to get to that stage.
I read somewhere that it should fire up without choke, sounds a tad odd, but that is what i have been doing.
The insulators are all brand new, ( the two rubber boots from the engine to the carburetors )
I did use some red gasket silicon on them thinking this will stop and air leaks.
I have now gone back and removed these, removed all that red gasket silicon, sanded the boots dead flat and reinstalled with just the standard gaskets only.
The diaphragms are the originals and look pretty good.
I did have the lid of the diaphragms stuck down with that Honda bond, again, just to stop any air leaks if there was any.
I have also gone back and removed this Honda bond, sanded the lids and the base of the diaphragms dead flat and reinstalled with no Honda bond.
When you blow through them, you can here them lifting up and down.
I hand the stock air filters and air boxes installed evetime i fired it it up.
All linkages and cables appear to be running nice and smooth with no sticking or dragging points.
I have yet to go back and fire it back up after i did these couple of things to see if they made any difference yet though, kind of get a tad frustrated with it and put it back in the shed for a bit.
I think i will look and see if i can find a new set of needle, spring, washer for the air / fuel needle.
I have been playing around trying to find a tighter sealing o ring washer as i am just thinking that this could possibly be an area that might be causing mw some of the issues.
I have some of those after market ones, but when i out them in they just didn't feel right and felts as if the o ring washer was going in too easy if that makes sense.
If it starts cold with no choke because it is too rich as you mentioned, i guess i could set the floats a bit lower, something like 21 or 22mm perhaps?