You need to get a clear direction. All you need is a screwdriver and a helper. Remove the air cleaner and give the carb a few pumps with the key off while you look down the front barrels. You should see fuel being squirted into the engine. Yes or no? Unplug one spark plug wire at a spark plug. Put screwdriver in spark plug wire end and put screwdriver metal shank about 1/4” away from something metal. Have helper crank the engine and you need to look for and listen for a rhythmic spark jumping from the screwdriver shank to ground. Yes or no?
Ok, so I went back out to the car this morning, pulled the air cleaner and hopped on top to look down in the carb. When pulling on the throttle mechanism, I could see fuel squirting in. Also for good measure, I added more gas to the tank. Now reading closer to 1/2 on the needle. I cranked a few times, no luck. Even sprayed some starter fluid in for good measure. Still no luck. I let the car sit for a few minutes and tried it again, and it started up. I let it idle for a few minutes and everything sounded pretty normal for my engine. I did notice a vacuum cap missing on one of the ports on the carb, right next to the fuel inlet. You could [obviously] hear the difference when I plugged it with my thumb. I will put a cap on that port...not sure why its open and uncapped? I took a test drive in the neighborhood. The car stumbles and falters under load. I wonder if that's related to that open vacuum port? Here is a video... https://twitter.com/JSBacksplash/status/1437429751417868295?s=20
That port is manifold vaccum. Without being plugged it is just a vaccum leak. Plug that first. The fuel filter is a good idea.
