Whats worse is when you loose your beer, and yet you find it after looking and it is in your hand.

A clogged vent line as you discribe it would cause the symptoms you were having. If you open the gas cap that will vent it so if you get it running again that is a quick way to check and see if you have a vent issue.

Thanks for the pep talks guys, I forced myself to give it up for the time being... and after I order a new needle jet, I don't doubt at all that it will end up being easy as pie to get it running again when I come back to it in a few weeks.

It looks like good snow may finally be heading for Colorado though, so I'll have plenty else to focus on!

Damn good point... I obviously should have tried that sooner!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO, KLX lives again!! I let it sit for a few weeks and ordered the new needle jet that I lost during cleaning. I was already pretty positive that the tank venting issue was the whole problem, probably caused completely by the cocoon, so I went through all of the tank lines once again and blasted them with some air, cleaned out the entire venting system in the cap (even though it seemed spotless). Put everything back together, and BINGO, it fired right up!

All throughout that frustrating process I figured it was going to end up being some stupid simple issue in the end... sure enough! Thanks everyone for all of your help!

CHEERS,
JMW

I love happy endings.