With this car, you'll want to replace all the vacuum lines unless they look brand new. It's cheap, easy, and even if it's not THE problem, it will eliminate the most common cause of problems.
Sounds like your immediate problem is carburetor related. Could be a number of things, but here's my guess.
When you say, "unless gas pedal is depressed alot" - you're living off your accelerator pump instead of the fuel nozzles. I recommend that you clear your carb jets by removing them and making sure they are free of any build up or particles. Often, guys go postal with Gumout and wash trash into the fuel bowl. With any luck, it plugs up the jets (little flow restricting orifices) instead of getting past them and plugging up the non-removables. There are two ports underneath the fuel window that will let you remove the jets without breaking open the carby. If you are really lucky, the vac lines and jets may get you running. In all honesty, if the car has been sitting for a while, you'll probably need a deeper work.
If you choose to keep the Aisan carb, expect to buy a rebuild kit. They're about 30 bucks from Autozone and do not include a new float. Be advised that rebuilding it is not like rebuilding a holley. I don't recommend just yanking it and turning it into a pile of clean parts. It's really tricky to get back together right. Take a lot of pictures from all the angles and label the parts.
A lot of people on this forum will tell you to eliminate and plug all the vacuum lines. I don't recommend that. There are only 3 or 4 lines out of a dozen that can cause trouble and some are very beneficial (like the AC boost and the distributor advance).
Others will recommend trashing your stock carburetor entirely and putting an aftermarket one on. I am in the keep it stock camp. But either way you can get a lot of support from this site.
