Need help with my slant six

Hey guy,

Well good for you for such a young start! actually we are here to have fun, but helping can be fun....it's the old guys kibitzing around the garage thing....

So, what symptom are you seeing that makes you believe it is getting fuel? Have you taken the line off of the output of the fuel pump and put it in a qaurt sized metal can and seen how much is pumped out in 2-3 seconds of cranking? Be careful if you do this; don't do it inside, disconnect the spark plug wirre form the center of the distributor cap, and have someone older around to montitor and help.

How old is the gas and how long was the car siting? Is the fuel regular grade fuel?? What does it smell like out of the fuel pump? Like gas out of the pump or does it have a bitter, acrid smell?

When you say it wants to start but dies in 1-2 seconds, does this occur immediately when you let off of the key when cranking?

Test for good spark; I do this by taking one plug wire of of a plug, putting a screwdriver in the now open spark plug end of the wire, and lay it on the valve cover so that the metal blade of rhe screwdriver is apporx 1/4" from a bare bolt head or metal. Have someone crank the engine, and you should see a nice fat, blueish spark, not a wimpey yellow one.

Answer these basic question and test the spark and then we have a better baseline of info to help out. Let us see if you have a good spark first and then check the fuel delivery; it is llikely either bad/no spark, or old fuel, or bad fuel delivery due to a plugged tank or fuel filter or carb problem.