I don't have dial indicator, timing light or any experence setting the timing.
The engine was so out of wack that I am pretty sure it was something that I did in the past 2 weeks trying to get her started this season - so I backtracked everything that touched...
Turns out I reinstalled the throttle cable incorrectly.
The end of the throttle cable connects to the throttle arm (towards the back of the engine). About a foot from the end of the cable (towards the front of the engine), a plastic post sticks out of the cable and gets clipped into one of two holes.
My throttle cable was incorrectly put into the bottom hole - I am assuming this changed the angle of how the throttle cable worked.
I moved this post to the top hole (now the throttle cable is perfectly straight and level) and all of the sudden she started running normal - goodbye backfire!
Thank you for all of your assistance faztbullet - you have been very helpful to me!!!
