"Nick Hull" wrote in message
...
SNIP
| I put gas or starting fluid in the spark plug hole and NO firing.
|
| If I try it with the plug just out of the hole I get fire about 3 times
| before it runs out of fuel.
|
| If I crank the engine with the hot wire just off the plug I get fire
| between the plug & hot wire, so that proves current is flowing thru the
| plug gap BUT the engine fires on every stroke so I could just be seeing
| the spark at the top of the exhaust cycle.
|
| I have the feeling I am missing something simple & stupid. Tell me what
| stupid thing I forgot. Please.

Been there, done that, but not with two strokers. The frustration cycle
is that usually your problem is right in front of you, normally obvious, but
your existing frustration level won't let you see it, which makes it even
more frustrating. Go for a walk, have a beer, beat the kids (okay, let's
not and say we did!) or something completely different for a few minutes and
come back with an unstuck brain.
Every time I've had a similar problem, it usually amounted to a float
valve seat or float. Most recently, the car would start and run for a few
seconds, then die. Then it would start right up again. The float was
sticking. I could rap on the carb to keep it going. Cleaned the crud out
of the bowl and valve seat (varnish, actually: 1956 Olds 88) and it ran
sweetly after minor tuning. It had the original Holley carb, and I could
remove the fuel level plug and watch the fuel level go down, otherwise I
would have missed it. The bowl filling up again after shutdown had me
flummoxed, and I suspect that when the float was almost to the bottom it
pulled the valve open, but by then the bowl was too empty to let the car
run.