Does this sound more like a fuel issue or a timing issue?

[Turbo7MN]

Alright, so recently I've started trying to get the 240Z started again.

Back story: Car has sat for 8 years, pretty sure it has a bad head gasket, some other little issues... etc. I worked on it a while last fall and got it to the point where it fired once on its own and then the igniton system died.

So now I have a Pertronix system installed in the car, I know I am getting spark. The car will fire and rev up to 1000-1500ish when I spray gas in the carbs, but will die as soon as I let go of the key. When I try cranking it without spraying gas into the carbs, I can tell it's kinda firing... It wants to go but doesn't quite make it. I know there is fuel getting to the carbs, which I sprayed down good with carb cleaner already...

One of my friends suggested that the timing is too far off for it to run. He reccomended that I turn the distributor around 180 degrees, which I did. The car promptly backfired out of the carbs when I tried starting it. So much for that theory. So I put it back... now I'm back to where I was before.

What do you guys think? To me it sounds like the carbs aren't delivering enough fuel, but my friend still thinks it's timing. Does this sound like a timing thing, or just a case of old worn out carbs? And this is all kind of futile anyway since I will be putting in an L28 soon. But I really want to have the stock setup running, if for no reason other than to make the car easier to deal with so I don't have to push/pull it around. I come from spending 5 years in the world of rotary engines and EFI so a lot of this stuff is new to me... just trying to figure it all out...

Thanks!

-Darren

[carguyinok]

Not sure what year your talking about here. But almost all the 240Zs had a thing with the fuel tanks going bad inside. I have found that if you pull the fuel line from the filter and blow back into the tank untill you hear it bubble that can free up any clogs. Or take a clean bottle and fill it with fresh gas. Then run a line from the fuel pump too the fresh bottle of fuel and try starting it on that.

Please just use care and caution if you go the bottle way. Maybe one person holding the bottle and one starting the car.

Good luck and hope it helps.

[Turbo7MN]

The car is a 72. I had already drained the fuel tank and put fresh gas in it, but I suppose the bottle method will be worth a try. Thanks.