I ran my motor quite a bit with heads, exhaust, and carb installed... It ALWAYS fired immediately, I never needed to use the choke even if it sat for a few weeks without being ridden. I installed a cam, roller rockers and pushrods while I was replacing the rear crankcase cover and now it sputters a little bit, almost like a cough, when its cold. It doesn't idle as good anymore either, especially when it is cold. Before I added the cam and rockers I didnt need to give it any throttle to keep it from dying, now I do.

Any idea on where I need to start for adjustments? I lowered the needle clip down a notch (richer), and am running a 165 jet. I adjusted the idle air screw the same way I adjusted it before, just enough to where its not sputtering anymore (I made this adjustment when the motor was nice and warm)

I'm just wondering if maybe the valves aren't set too tight, I set them right at .004 or .005 (depending on how much drag you consider to be appropriate on your feeler gauge).

Any opinions from those of you who have setup a few motors in your time? Is this normal?

i keep my 1.5:1 rockers around .006, yours could be a little tight.