What's wrong with the fuel system?, 914-6 w/ 40 PMO's won't start or idle (without assistance) Options

[david63]

It will become obvious that I am not the best mechanic in the world so keep that in mind when you hear my questions.

My 1970 914-6 (GT replica w/ twin plug 2.5) is not feeling too well. A job change kept me away from the car for several months and now you guessed it - it will not run.

What have I done so far... I suspect that the gas is bad so I drained the gas from the tank, replaced it with new gas (even put in a couple of gallons of high octane racing fuel (I know the fuel is OK now).

What the car is doing... It will start if I put a little gas in each carb (has 40 MM PMO's) it starts right up and NOW if I keep my foot in it I can keep it running. It will not idle and it does not hold a constant RPM with no change in throttle position?

I think the fuel psi could be the issue or there is something wrong with the carbs(different settings on the regulator between 3 psi and 9 psi do not seem to help or hurt)? Could the PMO's be plugged with crap (when I left the car sitting I ran it out of fuel prior to storing the car). Maybe the factory fuel pump is going bad. The car was set up like the GT with the factory fuel pump moved up front. Car ran fine before storage (actually would flood really easily prior to the storage period). Does someone rebuild the factory pumps as I have an extra that is leaking badly and thought I might re-build it and try that but would rather not just "swap parts".

Any thoughts, Thanks.

[pcar916]

Back to basics. Check that your fuel pump is working properly... both pressure and delivery.

Cold weather and no chokes makes this harder in the winter, but it sounds to me like a delivery problem. I have seen several cases over the years when a pump would happily get up to pressure quickly, but would not deliver the proper volume under load.

If the car ran ok before, and the linkage/synchronization was ok, then then linkage is adjusted properly and your filters are likely fine, but I'd check them anyway.

Webers have all of the jets accessible from the outside. Write down what your settings are, then remove and clean them all up and see what happens.

Good luck!