Ok...  any help anyone could provide would be much appreciated.

I purchased my '87 savage about a year ago and it ran perfectly all last summer, but this spring when I pulled it out (I admit I only fired it up a couple times over the winter to give the battery a charge) it started acting a little quirky.  A few of the things I've noticed are:

1. every time I start it, I have to let it warm up for a good 5 minutes.  If I don't, as soon as I hop on and wind it up it'll cough and hiccup for a good 20 seconds.  I have to pull over and let it spit out whatever is keeping it down before I can go again.  It will generally backfire once or twice and spit out whatever the issue is then its fine for the rest of my ride.

2.  I've noticed some hesitation while accelerating in the last 2 weeks.  I've read some posts on issues with the fule switch and vacuum problems and it does seem to make a difference if its in prime or main, but it never acts quite the same.  sometimes main is better, sometimes prime is better.  just weird  

3.  also within the last 2 weeks, it doesn't like to idle when I stop at lights.  it'll run fine while cruising, but when I clutch to stop at a light, it threatens to stall if I don't give it gas.  I've made no adjustments to the idle speed.  This is also one of those "doesn't happen every time" sort of issues.

I've determined the carb is probably due for a good cleaning, but (and this is kind of my main question), is there any sort of guideline on how often you should rebuild a carb?  I've also toyed with the idea of stepping up to a high performance carb, but am not sure which I'd go with.  Are there any suggestions on which hi-perf carb is a good fit for this bike?

Any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.  These 'quirks' are threatening to keep me from riding so I'd like to get them resolved as quickly as possible  

(sorry...  this probably should have gone in 'rubber side down')

Yep, probably the carb. I had the exact same problem with my other bike. I added 3 ounces of Sea Foam carb cleaner to a full tank of gas and the problem went away.

1. fresh gas
2. add Sea Foam carb cleaner to the gas
3. drain the float bowl. It's easy to get to on the bottom of the carb

Guidelines for rebuilding a carb.......when it does not act right and will not respond to correction...kind of like kids.

Ok...  so I did some minor cleaning and it didn't seem to help.  However, it doesn't really matter too much at this point.  After my excellent 4th of July ride, my timing chain decided to give up the ghost so that's the new project.

I'm planning to tear into it this weekend, but was wondering what all I'm gonna need to purchase before I get elbow deep in this one.  I'm planning to buy the following parts, but if anyone out there can think of anything I'll need besides what's on the list, please let me know:

new timing chain
new chain tensioner
new chain guides
new head gasket

I'll only be into it about $270 with the parts listed above, but hopefully I'm not forgetting something that I'll end up having to pick up mid-job.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions that might make this job a little easier for a noob, I'd be greatful  

I've worked on cars all my life but this is my first major project on my bike.  Here's to hoping I don't jack it up.

You mite want the rubber plug for the head cover

Well...

Cam chain is replaced along with a new CDI (figured out that's what was causing the "carb" problems I originally asked about in this thread).  

Runs like new again.  WOOHOO!!!

I meant to take some pictures of the job, but always thought about it after I was up to my elbows in oil and grease.  Oh well.  

I just wanted to say thanks to the community here for all the great help and info though.  I got a little stuck a couple times and all I had to do was utilize the "search" function to find past posts that got me right back on track.  There's tons of good info here and I wanted to praise the community for all the knowlege and friendly help.