Breaking up in flight has to be only the carb or the ignition. If the ignition is working and there's no shorts in the electricals I would look to cleaning out the carb. I would also be certain that the fuel was filtered, preferable with a filter prior to reaching the carb. At times a poor mixture will foul a plug causing a miss. So will a loose timing ring where the set screws loosened up in flight from an unbalanced propeller. Too many things that can go wrong having nothing to do with the engine itself.

Not saying this is the case but there are far more people that can't tune a carb than those that can. Even fewer that can actually work with simple engines and fix minor induction or spark issues. Checking and adjusting timing seems to be out of reach for most. But we'll always blame the engine and spend $30.00 to send it back rather than spend $5.00 or some time to correct something simple.

There is nothing mechanical inside a Taurus or most any other gasser that can cause the issue. It's not possible. Therefore the issue is not with the engine, but like so many others, accessories.