97 johnson 40 hp wont stay running

[steelhorse1369]

97 40 hp johnson was running great, went from running full throttle to nearly a idle, i shut it off and it would start but die. figured it to be fuel pump that was a vro pump with oil disconnected, replaced it with a standard pump, capped off the old pulse line and ran all new fuel lines, took carbs off and cleaned and rebuilt them setting the initial idle jets at 1.5 turns from a soft seating. motor still starts and dies, will run around 15 seconds at idle and maybe 5 with fast idle in use ( turned them out 5 turns a half turn at a time same results ),. installed new spark plugs and getting bright blue spark. In line primer bulb is pushing fuel but will never get hard. I can also see fuel in the throat of carb when motor is tilted slightly. Im stumped , any ideas.
thanks, Mark