Just to complete the thread, I wanted to post some photos of the issues with the mating surfaces between the carb and air filter. I think the mesh and fiber filter I got recently come from the same mold. My guess is the mold is either getting worn out or was modified to make the same filter fit on multiple saws. Both filters as new were not making a good seal with the carburetor, and at least on my 036 the circular cut outs to accommodate the nuts holding the carb to the saw overhang the sides of carb and the inner parts of those circles are not even with the main mating surface. Basically the filter casting does not allow the filter to seal with the carb tightly. I'm guessing this was not the case when the saws first came out.
Anyway, below are some photos of the issue, and how I tried to correct it. The photos are not great and without spending a whole lot of time it's hard to fully illustrate the issue. Also thanks for the help in this tread,
@Mad Professor posted some useful links in this thread, and ones I later found in older ones. I ordered one of the knock off filters on Amazon (it sort of killed me), but I am curious to see if they fixed the casting issue or just recreated the same issue.
Photo above shows the mating surface on a 123 block held up to the sun.
Photo above shows the mating surface after some truing, not perfect, but much better.
Photo above shows what seems like should be a mating surface overhanging the carb.