Strange Norton missfire/backfire

acotrel, Thanks for the wood alcohol and benzene fuel safety factors and for sure Peel will see some inhaled for the refrigerant effect but that's a ways off so right now I'm riding with zcarman listening to his every move and sense of results. 30 mph is past AAU full advance speed, so don't sound like it unless something fractured or stuck which I'd think would show up below 30 mostly. its more important to pay attention to the throttle opening amount though rather than the speed so more details requested on conditions that onset the annoyance.

I put washers between the coil clamps so no matter how snug I don't crush coils just hold on mounts better. I've had em come undone on the fly still running and bumping till wire pulled off.

Contact breakers and coils are rather more stressed at hi rpm than low so adds to mystery. I KNOW at any time Trixie could surprise me with annoyance that i can't figure out w/o some hand holding again.

So today I completely cleaned the carbs and found nothing wrong with them so I raised the needle one notch (from the top to the middle) and now it runs terribly. There is no black smoke but it backfires on deceleration surges way more on low speeds and sputters on acceleration. I pulled the plugs and they where completely black so it is obvious that it is extremely rich. Could that cause low speed surging even when the needle is in the top notch? Im running a 260 main jet and 105 needle jet. Also the crankcase breather dripped little bits of oil on the air filter element and contaminated the bottom curve of it. However it would still surge at low speeds a little bit even when the element was new. Does it just need a smaller main? And how do I stop the small drips from the crankcase breather onto the element?

Time to spend cash ? What mileage on carbs ? I would order in new viton float needles ,needles , needle jets and stay up floats. New spark plugs . Tear apart spark plug wires ,renew ? Take off airfilter untill problem solved. Inspect slides for slop or even a fracture/lost piece.