Ran it on the hose just now and I think it's going to be OK.
For the first time, I can run with the ground off low speed needle and it will run at 1/3 throttle. With the BVM set at about 2 1/4 turns out, when I blip full throttle it will hesitate for a second, then clears itself out and the revs skyrocket.
I think I'm getting somewhere now.
As an interesting note, I took the back cover off of the never-been-run engine, slapped the degree wheel on it and found that it's intake disc was also reversed. It may never have been run, but it's surely been apart.
Looked at Gordon Jennings' book on two stroke engines and found that delayed closure of a rotary intake valve will tend to increase the RPM where the engine makes its power and obviously then reduce bottom end torque. Jennings gave a general closure timing of 65 degrees ATDC and cautioned about extending this by any more than about 2 degrees at a time. Things obviously go south in a hurry here. At 18-20 degrees beyond where it should have been, it's no wonder it ran so terribly.
No bubbles in the tank line this time.
Doug