Well great news, I (we
) got her going! My last hurdle to pass was the stripped spark plug hole. I opted to re-thread the hole with the head still on the motor. Long story short, I added grease liberally to the tap, and only did about half a turn at a time. Every time I backed the tap out to clean it off, I'd shine I light into the motor to make sure no shavings got past. Thankfully, things came out alright. I am, however, going to take the advice of other forum members in the near future when time allows and pull the head, make sure it's flat, clean things up, and put a new gasket in. Parts are ordered for this, and it shall be done. But back on topic.
Got the hole re-threaded, cleaned the hole, installed the insert with some red high temp lock-tight, let it dry, and installed the new plug. Turned the key and she fired right up. You could tell it'd been many years since she ran. She spit a bit of oil, dirt, grime, and whatever had collected in the muffler out but after a few minutes of that, she purred for me. However, there was a casualty - the hood of the 1330 I used to jump it
Anyway, here are a few pics of the project and a couple videos of her running. First video is right after start up, she's still smoking and burning the dirt off the muffler. Second video is after I took her for a short spin and parked her elsewhere. She's running clean in that video.
And to those that have asked, that PO trunion repair actually works. She's not jerky and it holds speed. The hydro lever is still pretty stiff but a bit of adjustment and lube should clear that up, I hope. If not, I've got a guy who can do the trunion repair and I've got the parts in hand to fix it. So there it is, the cheap Cub 127 is back in service. Thank you guys for your help along the way on this, I'll toast a cold one to the forum tonite
http://youtu.be/QW9v6Vo-CFc
http://youtu.be/_sJoM0fZpT0