Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I FINALLY got the cruiser home last weekend when I was finally able to get people, equipment, and weather conditions right. It was quite the task getting her in the garage when she's sitting on 35's and at least a 4" lift SOA.
Once in the garage, my first task was to see how bad the gas was in the tank, since after sitting for 3-4 years I was expecting the worst. After removing the drain plug I noticed the gas wasn't nearly as bad as it could or should have been. I checked the gas cap and found it was un-vented and airtight causing a vacuum to develop while draining the gas. I figured this was the reason behind the gas not being too bad. I removed the cap and drained almost 5 gallons out of the tank. Mind you, I was doing the whole tapping on the tank to try and figure out how much was in there but it's hard to do on a 42 gallon steel tank. Regardless, I only had 1 bucket so I put the plug back in the tank and moved on. No water was seen, and only 1 small fleck of rust on the plug.
I knew we had turned the motor over several times while moving it so I decided to throw a battery in it and see what happens. I took off the air filter cover and grabbed a cupful of that old gas. I knew it would at least fire if it was getting spark. Well, after 30 seconds of cranking, sputtering, and pouring gas in the carb she started up and ran. Granted, she was puking out copious amounts of smoke and soot while she played Frankenstein's monster and came back to life after several stalls and me figuring out the manual choke.
After a few minutes while getting warmed up and things moving again, she smoothed out relatively well considering 3-4 year old gasoline. I got in, backed her out of the garage and took her for a spin around the block. All went well with that except a very touchy throttle and what feels and sounds like a couple of worn out U joints. Needless to say I was pretty happy with getting it running in less than 10 minutes of tinkering.
The next day, I drained the rest of the gas out of the tank, which was about a pint, I started her up again to run the last of the old gas out. I then poured in 5 gallons of fresh gas and put in the new spark plugs. What a difference that made. Throttle response is good, all smoke is gone from the exhaust, and she's running pretty smooth. I'm sure the carb needs some work but I'm not going to worry about that anymore.
After looking around online and seeing the cost of parts for these engines alone, and discussing things with my wife, I am going to do a drivetrain swap. Since I can't find a 4BT that I can afford, I'm going with a Chevy 350 crate motor. I have a friend that says he can get me one for under $1K and he'll supply the carb. I already have a 700R4 and NP208 transfer case I was going to use in the Scout, but it will work much better in the Cruiser with the lower driveshaft angles. One step at a a time, and since the P. O. told me it only got about 8MPG with the I6 Toyota engine, I may do a little better with the 350/auto combo I have. I think a 42 gallon tank should last me a week with this combo. Summit Racing is going to get to know me very well in the next few weeks. Thanks!
Once in the garage, my first task was to see how bad the gas was in the tank, since after sitting for 3-4 years I was expecting the worst. After removing the drain plug I noticed the gas wasn't nearly as bad as it could or should have been. I checked the gas cap and found it was un-vented and airtight causing a vacuum to develop while draining the gas. I figured this was the reason behind the gas not being too bad. I removed the cap and drained almost 5 gallons out of the tank. Mind you, I was doing the whole tapping on the tank to try and figure out how much was in there but it's hard to do on a 42 gallon steel tank. Regardless, I only had 1 bucket so I put the plug back in the tank and moved on. No water was seen, and only 1 small fleck of rust on the plug.
I knew we had turned the motor over several times while moving it so I decided to throw a battery in it and see what happens. I took off the air filter cover and grabbed a cupful of that old gas. I knew it would at least fire if it was getting spark. Well, after 30 seconds of cranking, sputtering, and pouring gas in the carb she started up and ran. Granted, she was puking out copious amounts of smoke and soot while she played Frankenstein's monster and came back to life after several stalls and me figuring out the manual choke.
After a few minutes while getting warmed up and things moving again, she smoothed out relatively well considering 3-4 year old gasoline. I got in, backed her out of the garage and took her for a spin around the block. All went well with that except a very touchy throttle and what feels and sounds like a couple of worn out U joints. Needless to say I was pretty happy with getting it running in less than 10 minutes of tinkering.
The next day, I drained the rest of the gas out of the tank, which was about a pint, I started her up again to run the last of the old gas out. I then poured in 5 gallons of fresh gas and put in the new spark plugs. What a difference that made. Throttle response is good, all smoke is gone from the exhaust, and she's running pretty smooth. I'm sure the carb needs some work but I'm not going to worry about that anymore.
After looking around online and seeing the cost of parts for these engines alone, and discussing things with my wife, I am going to do a drivetrain swap. Since I can't find a 4BT that I can afford, I'm going with a Chevy 350 crate motor. I have a friend that says he can get me one for under $1K and he'll supply the carb. I already have a 700R4 and NP208 transfer case I was going to use in the Scout, but it will work much better in the Cruiser with the lower driveshaft angles. One step at a a time, and since the P. O. told me it only got about 8MPG with the I6 Toyota engine, I may do a little better with the 350/auto combo I have. I think a 42 gallon tank should last me a week with this combo. Summit Racing is going to get to know me very well in the next few weeks. Thanks!
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Oh well. At least I'm on my way to getting the stuff together for the swap. Thank you all for the help and keep the ideas coming. 
