I had another go at trying to get this thing started and with a new needle (orange) from the local mower shop, it actually started!!! It even responded on a hot start attempt after it had been running for awhile. I did this ages more times and it did not miss a beat so hopefully I have got it to where I want it, it's going!!
Thanks for your input NormK, it gave me inspiration to continue to on to get the mower running again.
At the moment job's right.
