88 Ranger start/run problems

I just picked up a rust free all orig 88 Ranger S from a neighbor for cheap. 116k miles, he got it from an uncle in Virginia, drove it here to Ohio without any problem. After it had been here in Ohio for a while, it started getting hard to hot start and consumes oil. This is a 2.0 carb engine, I guess it's made by Toyota? Has a 5 speed manual tranny. His mechanic says the carb needs a rebuild, sounds like vapor lock to me. I plan on checking the fuel filters and being sure that the throat of the carb is clean and everything is in good order. The oil consumption bothers me a bit. I'm told all of the oil consumption started when the AC belt was installed, which I find odd. I'll remove the belt (AC on a carb 4 cyl is not good anyway) and see whether it's loading the engine or something. Any other suggestions? Experiences with this Toyota engine? I'm really good with diesels, haven't played with a carb for years. Thanks in advance.

I just picked up a rust free all orig 88 Ranger S from a neighbor for cheap. 116k miles, he got it from an uncle in Virginia, drove it here to Ohio without any problem. After it had been here in Ohio for a while, it started getting hard to hot start and consumes oil. This is a 2.0 carb engine, I guess it's made by Toyota? Has a 5 speed manual tranny. His mechanic says the carb needs a rebuild, sounds like vapor lock to me. I plan on checking the fuel filters and being sure that the throat of the carb is clean and everything is in good order. The oil consumption bothers me a bit. I'm told all of the oil consumption started when the AC belt was installed, which I find odd. I'll remove the belt (AC on a carb 4 cyl is not good anyway) and see whether it's loading the engine or something. Any other suggestions? Experiences with this Toyota engine? I'm really good with diesels, haven't played with a carb for years. Thanks in advance.

Update;

I pulled the plugs and all are normal except #4, which is black and a bit crusty, but dry. Not carbon dry, but not oil wet. I'm used to having oily plugs be on the wet side. I'm going to check the return lines in the head because someone got exceptionally wild with the RTV on the cam cover gasket and it probably doesn't take much to put oil over past the valve seals and the engine slants a bit toward the back. Any comments or suggestions? thanks

thanks