Gretsch
SILVER Star
You wouldn't' desmog as a whole if you could do it again?
I would not, no. My experience was it was more hassle than it was worth for the imperceptible change in performance gained by doing it. PO did the desmog on mine and did it so poorly that I had to spend a lot of time tracking down parts to put back on the truck to make it run better. Guy ruined some bits trying to block things off, etc. Just did a terrible job. Much more to the desmog than simply removing parts, as I think you are discovering. If you are not willing to do the recurves and selective removal required to make it run right desmogged, its prolly a lesson in futility in terms of any marked performance improvements and for me it really didn't simplify anything, never mind the effects it has on the environment.
You will have plenty of opportunity work on your cruiser without introducing intricacies and unknowns by desmogging it. Don't poke the bear. I am sure there is value to doing a desmog, but it's not gonna suddenly shave off 20 years of age. I would rather just embrace what the truck is as is than try and make it something it isn't. I'm a purist though when it comes to these trucks and generally believe if it was good enough for Toyota Engineers, its good enough for me. So, if I had it to do again, I would just leave it alone. But that's just me. You do you. HTH.