Long story short, I've had the rear wheels on ramps for about a week doing some work under the car. I started her up last night and she ran fine for a minute or two then died. I realized then that I was pretty low on gas and with the rear of the car raised, I think I may now have air in the fuel lines. Lowered it down.
It cranks, but wont start and the carbs are dry. I opened the tops of them and looked down to see a couple (1-2) drops of fuel come out while the wife turned her over.
I cranked it for awhile and nothing.

Is there something I should do to prime these things or bleed the fuel lines in this situation?

As long as the fuel pump is working...a couple puffs of starter fluid in the throats might help.
Normally if you look down the carbs and pump the throttle you should see gas squirting out.

Starter fluid usually works well. Available at flaps.

Thanks. Will try the starter fluid, but dont want to burn the house down.
I can hear the fuel pump and cranked it for quite a while, but no gas to the carb. Will check fuel filter too, maybe its clogged.

Just some small puffs from the can at a time.

Carefully,,,run a hot wire from the battery to the fuel pump and see what comes out. also...how old is the fuel filter?

Look down the throats of the carbs and pump the accelerator lever. You should see a squirt of gas coming out. If not the starter fluid to help prime...then start checking where the fuel blockage is.

Stumped. I took one of the fuel lines off and put in a bottle. Fuel pump shot plenty of fuel out. Attached timing light to all four spark plugs and wires and got it to light. Pulled coil wire and had spark there.
Still never saw fuel spraying into carb when cranking, but plenty when disconnected.

No luck with starter fluid either.

Any ideas guys?

Thanks

Carbs have floats in the bowl with a shutoff needle. Sounds like the needle is stuck which won't allow fuel into the bowl, hence the carb throat/engine.
Do not use starter fluid in this case, it will run for a few seconds, then cut out again.
Take a screwdriver and lightly tap on the top of the carb/bowl with the plastic handle to jar the needle loose. You should be able to turn the key on to run the pump and then press the gas pedal or manually move the carb throttle linkage several times. Once you see a stream of gas in the carb throat, button it up and try to start it.

Still working on this. I appear to have a good spark. I also have fuel squirting into the carbs. It doesnt appear to be alot. How much should squirt in there when I push the accelerator? Nothing happens with a generaous amount of starting fluid still.

So if I have fuel and spark, what could be missing?

Engine turns over, but never 'catches'

Video with fuel pump running and me turning throttle. Should I be getting more gas than this, and a steady stream?

Video

you should have a short steady stream not a splurt.

sounds like you have same problem as me, crap in the carbs.

The last part of the video seems to show a steady stream when you open the throttle, that's what you want. You should be at least getting a pop or sounding like it is trying to fire.
If that isn't the case, then you still aren't getting fuel into the bowl(s). The short 'spurt' indicates only a little fuel in the bowl/accelerator pump.
May be time to pull the carb off the manifold, then remove the top section and take a look inside. I would NOT do this with it mounted, drop one small screw/nut and you may end up taking the a head off to retrieve it...

Are you sure the timing is correct?

In my mind, you have already eliminated fuel as an issue actually, or can. If you sprayed starter fluid in each throat and turned it over, and it did not start, I would still be suspecting spark. You should get *something* to happen with the starter fluid.

Perhaps you are getting spark, but not at the correct times. That would indicate the distributor has moved perhaps?

I can confirm now that I am getting spark on all four plugs. I took each one of them out and observed them sparking. I had to use my phone to record them while I turned the ignition, so I'm not sure how strong the spark was/is.
ALso, if I hold the pedal down and crank, I can hear pops from the carbs, but still no attempt by the engine to start.
Someone local suggested bad points?
But maybe the timing IS off.

Can you someone give me a clue as to how to check or test this? Should I just rotate the distributor while someone turns the key??
Not sure how to set timing with non-running engine.

Thanks
Eric

first off you can get it close by just setting the static timing. the rotor will line up with the line on the distributor when cap is off, or at over very close to the #1 spark plug wire. and on the impeller there should be a mark, a red or while mark notating the position of TDC and your timing mark you use when its running and fine tuning, the other will be your 27'BTDC . might be a 0 , some have this some do not.

once there you should e close enough to be able to start it. Just make sure all connections and grounds are solid and correct.

I don't like carbs, had them on a '69 Austin Healey ugh, never could keep them tuned well or clean , living on a dirt road in the country- I like my original FI.

Reset static timing. Start there.

Thanks guys, I'll have a look here in a few minutes. The previous owner had a Megasquirt system that I could never get right. Carbs have been flawless for me so far. Maybe until now..

OK. Set TDC and rotor was pointing at plug wire #1. It was running fine when it just died and woudnt restart, so I guess timing is not an issue. The saga continues.

My car wouldn't start for weeks and I had a spark at the plug.....but under compression coil didn't cut it. I would try another coil just to rule it out.
gg

THanks, maybe I'll give that a try.

Here is a video of my spark. Look OK? or weak?

sparkplug sparking

Indeed, that would be the next guess. Coils can certainly fail like that, especially if you don't know how old that one is. And they're relatively cheap, and even if it's not it, it's always good to have a spare.

The spark doesn’t fire every time it should. Spark looked ok on the times it did fire. It is suggesting a bad coil, bad points or condenser, or a bad connection for the 12v to the coil, or the wire to the points, or a bad carbon post and spring in the center of the cap, or a bad rotor, or again, the small braided ground wire to the advance plate that the cintact points mount on inside the distributor. I have experienced every one of these and now check each over during tune ups.

I called a local friend who is an expert in bus engines to take a look. He got it running!
We cleaned and adjusted the points and tried to start it. Nothing. Just small pops out of carbs. He says "It sounds like your timing is 180 degress off!"
He pulled the distributor, which he says was loose and puts on a new condensor and puts the distributor back on, rotated to account for 180 degrees, and it fires right up. Set the timing and she's running good as ever.

So he says that somehow the distributor "jumped" (It didnt seem THAT loose). He's been building/fixing engines a long time and got this one running in 15 minutes, so I dont doubt him.

Have any of you ever had that happen??

Thanks for all of the help.

Eric

Figured I was fairly close. Yes, if you never had the distributor seated fully and/or the hold-down bolt was loose, it's quite easy for them to pop out. I spit mind clear out of the hole when I was adjusting timing once and forgot to tighten it back down. Glad you got it figured out.

If there was a prize for this, I think you would have won it.

914 distributors do not go in 180 off. Only the drive gear can go in wrong. Only way for that to happen is to remove the diz and physically lift and turn the gear. If that gear moved on it's own, assume engine was running, it would trash the drive gear and the cam. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.