B&S 22HP Intek Popping thru carb and now will not start

I have a 14 year old mower and that been actually fairly reliable up till this year. Started to pop thru the carb earlier this spring but seemed to clear up as I mowed. I thought it was bad gas from storing it over the winter. Decided I needed to do some maintenance so replaced the fuel lines, filter, changed oil, plugs, and rebuilt the carb. Started and ran reasonably well for one mowing. Last week went to start it and the engine was flooded with gas in the oil. Replaced the oil and checked the carb float again. Used a heat gun to slightly adjust the float so it would seat a bit better. Looks like it's sealing well now but since that episode it's been hard to start and pops out of the carb even while at idle.

Checked the flywheel key by removing the entire flywheel to verify the key was not sheared. Verified that removing individual kill wires from the coils or both of them did not help. Set the valve clearance to .005 (was not all that far off to begin with). I don't have a working compression gauge but will have one in a day or so. Feels like I have good compression on both sides. I verified the pump is pumping fuel. I'm about to pull my hair out as I have checked about everything I can think of. I still need to verify the valve lift to see if the cam lobes are worn. Popping through the carb would seem like the valves may not be seating or something odd. I understand that the guides can move. How to test for that?

Again my compression gauge will be here in a day so I can check it then. Anything else I may have overlooked?

B&S 22HP Intek Popping thru carb and now will not start