Not the timing because you had it running, only way to check if the crank has runout is at the nut, if that oscillates at all then you can tell the crank has issues, but you had it running and you didn't mention any vibration issues. At the moment the issue is with the spark which was working yesterday before you started to work on the carby. You are right, one hour in the shop would be a lot more than they are worth and that is without any parts. Problem is when you get them running they are much better that the Chinese rubbish on the market now, I had a mate ring me up a few minutes ago, his brother wants a mower, he had bought some Chinese thing 2 years ago and it has fallen to bits and he is not interested in going that path again
