73 2.0 sat 5 years not starting... Options

[bmtrnavsky]

So a little history... The car is a basically stock fuel injected 73 2.0 4 cylinder. the only real changes made to it is it has an ignitor electronic ignition in it so no points to adjust and hydraulic lifters. About 5 years ago I was driving to work, and it did a weird thing where it ran up to about 5k RPM and was sorta stuck. It was difficult to start but would start and run fast with ether. I am assuming it was a vacuum leak of some sort that caused this issue.

Fast forward now... The place I worked was shut down, I moved from Seattle to East Texas, changed careers, got divorced spent some time as a single dad, and then re-married. Through all this, I continued to move her and keep her safe with the hope that one day I would be able to bring her back to life...

Well, now she is on jack stands in my garage. I pulled the tank, cleaned it and treated the light rust that was in there. I swapped out the fuel lines with fresh, changed the fuel filter, and in anticipation of the issue that put her into hibernation I changed out all the vacuum lines with the kit from AA.

While the fuel tank was out I did drop in a fresh battery, pull the plugs and clean them off. I also shot a little PB blaster down each cylinder and let that sit then added about a tablespoon of 2 cycle mix gas to each cylinder and spun it over to make sure it was lubed.

First 5 seconds it spun were VERY slow. however, once the oil got moving it spun fast and freely. it actually fired up and ran off whatever vaper was in the cylinders for about 10 seconds 3 or 4 times.

The fuel tank has 3 gallons of fresh fuel with a can of seafoam in it. Last night I cranked it several times but nothing really happened. It was slow to turn over again and voltmeter was reading about 10 volts so I threw it in the charger and went to bed. This morning the charger said still charging, but it was reading 12 volts on the cars voltmeter. I gace it a little shot of ether in the airbox, jumped in and turned it over and it spun fast and fired for about 5 seconds then died. cranked again ran 3 seconds rough, then died.

I can hear the fuel pump turn on before I crank it and it does sound like it wants to start, but isnt. I KNOW my lifters have leaked down, but I have had that happen before and it usually doesnt stop it from starting just takes about 1-2 minutes for them to fill back up and quiet down.

I really havent tried too hard to start it... maybe 3-5 minutes last night and again this morning. Is it possible that I just need to go out there with a strong battery and give it a go a few more times? Other than cleaning the fuel tank and replacing fuel and vaccume lines I can think of anything else that would stop it from starting. Is that little shot of ether to get'r going ok or can that hurt it somehow? I dont use much I just crack the airbox open shooot a little in and jump in and crank it.

What else should I be checking? It has spark because I can hear it firing. I guess I am assumptive it has fuel... I dont have an impressive assortment of tools just basic things but I follow instructions well and will be forever grateful if someone can help me get my baby fired up again.

Even better is if there is someone in East Texas who is willing to swing by and take a look. I miss the Everett bunch... so much knowlege there. Anyways... if people can give simple instructions, link to a video or whatever, I will do whatever I need to do and follow up here later.

Thanks!