Trouble shooting.

I've been having poor engine runs on the Pathfinder. I tried lots of things but nothing was working. I had the same type of engine on another plane and I was going to use it instead. I went to clean the needle valve asm. and screwed the needle in to see where it was so I could place it back where it was when I finished cleaning. It screwed in 5 turns. Way too much. I checked the other engine and it screwed in a litle over 2 turns. I reset the other to 2 turns and changed the tank as the engine cut off is weird. I went to the dog track today and the engine ran very well. It still had trouble stopping though. The only thing I can figure is that the fuel pickup is too close to the end of the tank. I shortened the pickup 1/2" and will try it asap. I opened one of my homemade tanks and shortened the pickup on it also. I'm bringing a camera tripod to assist me in resetting the plane after a flight and the plane stops away from the start point. I hook the handle on the top of the tripod and walk the plane around to the start point holding the lines off the ground. It works well. I lay it down when I'm flying so it's out of the way.
The El Camino has been leaking brake fluid from somewhere and I found it today. The new master cylinder is defective and will be replaced tomorrow. I have refilled the back resivour twice but couldn't locate the leak until today.