did u take the tors sensor out of the throttle assembly?. its a lil box with a small clicker button on it... its about 1cm x 3cm box
If the TORS control box is gone, then it can't be that, period. Grounding the green wire should work fine. There are slight differences between the older and newer source coils, I wonder if that could be affecting things. Easiest thing to do would be swap in your old stator assembly from your other motor.
Check the flywheel key (as Freek said). It could be sheared, allowing the flywheel to be slightly off on timing.
Check reeds. All it would take is a small chip missing to start backfiring.
I get the idea that you don't want to buy a puller, but in the long run it will be 15 bucks well spent.
ahhh rule number 1 ....never listen to what the previous owner said.....if i only had a dollar for everytime ive seen "fresh top end" in any ebay or craigslist posting.....whos gonna put a brandnew topend in and then sell it lol...just saying bud
sorry for your past experience but im as straight up as they come. I even have video of it running before i pulled it the day i shipped it, ran great.
Sorry for the issues joshhockey. I still have the other electrical components harness and all if they will help. also i ran a 260 main in it. jetting can cause this issue too if not right.
like mentioned before the tors needs to be looped off the cdi so it wont freak out. thats how mine was. the two wires that ran to the throttle , i just looped them together and ran fine. (not sure about grounding one side like mentioned in previous post)
pm me joshhockey if can help you more.
its cool man, it wasnt a shot at u specifaclly bro....i posted that before he said he got it from a member on here...no hard feelings dude