gene cooley
Autocrosser
It's almost certainly NOT a fuel problem. It's not running out of gas, even if I pour good fuel down the throat of the carburetor it will still refuse to start.
These recent problems were nonexistent until I started messing with the distributor - The car ran pretty well on it's own beforehand, albeit a bit rough and it would not warm start. I think I can justify those in part by pointing out that one of the cylinders was disconnected from the distributor completely and that the vacuum advance was unplugged and open - No plug in the port.
How can I check a plugged return line? I can't exactly take the whole line off the car, it's a decently difficult job since the metal hardline goes from the interior underneath the floor and into the engine before it becomes a very short piece of rubber hose connected to the carb.
Where else can I mount this electric fuel pump where it will have power and will not require drilling holes in things? I'm not going to go back to the mechanical pump, it'd be such an insane amount of work for potentially no change at all other than maybe causing it to crank longer before starting.
1. You said there was no fuel at the carb.
2. You need a timing light to check timing.
3. Take the return line loose at the carb and blow some air through it. Listen at the tank.
Might require a helper.
4. If the pump is not working correctly then it needs to be fixed. If you KNOW the pump is working leave it where it is. If it isn't then you might have to drill a hole, cut a line, and even run some wiring, or go back to the mechanical pump.
You do have a problem in that the car won't run or runs intermittently. YOU need to find out why. Guessing but never really knowing what's wrong takes forever. I understand that you are trying to learn the car, but you need to take one thing at a time and check it out. Then move to the next item.