The engine serial no. you give is for a flathead engine. If you use a number like 282HO7-0334 E1 it will show a 28 cu in AVS engine. The rod bolts are Torx around T40 but not sure on this. You will need the correct bit to torque the rod bolts and its best to remove the camshaft to do this. You will need to turn the engine to a suitable spot to fit your torque wrench in to tighten the bolts.

went to race and we started having trouble with the motor breaking down. so we put 3 different coils on left bank of engine 3 new plugs  adjusted valves adjusted airspace on coil then noticed while reving it up the left exhaust was comin out cold let it idle and was as warm as the right side i know i always ask the stupid stuff so i thought id pile this on to has anybody run across this before

Try disconnecting the kill wires and run the engine. If that fixes it then there is a problem with the kill wiring/diodes.
 If possible switch the coils left to right to see if the problem switches to the other side. Then I would suspect a coil problem.
If the spark, compression and carb is good I would suspect a lobe worn off the camshaft.

Its a good idea to clean the threads of the screws and throttle shaft with loctite primer to make sure the threadlocker is effective.

Yes use the stock plastic gear. My starter is spaced out .080" (2mm) using 2 washers. Any closer and the starter gear binds and chews out.

You got it.

You might wanna check to make sure the fuel inlet hose is not on the bowl vent pipe. This will make it flood which sounds like what your problem is. If not it might be a stuck float or needle valve.

I wouldn't use a steel key in a stock flywheel. They are aluminium for a reason. I had a Chinese Briggs clone engine with a steel key that disintegrated internally and locked up. The flywheel broke at the tapered boss area. Luckily it didn't come completely apart.

Starters have lots of smoke in them

And like anything electrical or electronic it is important not to let the smoke out.