Rebuilt Carb, now a slew of other problems..help?

[mjricha]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and motorcycles in general. I've worked on and rebuilt cars for years so I am fairly mechanically inclined.

My GF got her motorcycle license and bought a 99 gz250. It was running very very rich, but other than that, it seemed ok.

I got a carb rebuild kit, the manual, and a new battery. When I opened up the carb I found it was MISSING several springs and o-rings. So I ordered all of those online, and when they came, I rebuilt the carb (cleaning everything, making sure all the jets are the proper ones, etc). I made extra sure everything was there and went where it was supposed to.

After I put the bike put back together, it starts, and runs, but wants to die quickly. If i pull the throttle alot to really open it up it also wants to die. Also, the bike will not run in the RES position, it only wants to start and run in the PRI position. When I started the bike, black smoke came POURING off the front of the engine. This had not happened previously, and smelled like burning oil, not regular exhaust. I read some other threads, and seems to be that tightening up all the bolts in that area should solve that issue right?

One last thing, how much play in the choke should there be? The choke on the bike only moves about between 3/4 and an inch, and seems very hard to maneuver. When it is all the forward (toward the front of the bike), it runs, but will die when pulled back (toward the gas tank).

Does anyone have any idea where I should even start? The bike was 900 dollars and I don't want to pour money into it, especially since it's not even mine lol.

Thank you for any help you can give me