the bad fuel thing. I am from California also. Even when the fuel starts to go bad ( smells like varnish ) it will still burn. it will run like absolute crap, but still burn. Motors need 3 things to run. Fuel, Spark, and at least some compression. So with those things in mind, find the one that is missing. An extremely out of time motor will cause it to not run also. But you didnt say anything about playing with the timing. Even at 180 deg out the motor will pop and stumble. Now.... when a motor sits that long a lot of times the Carb will evaporate all the fuel out. If the fuel pump is Marginal it will take forever and a day to get fuel back into the carb. Try priming it with your lawn mower gas can. That is where i would start.