Won't Start

[SemperFi]

I have a 1973 Ford F100, 390 w\ Ederbrock 1406.
The quick back story on this Ford is, I recently bought, and it has a brand new rebuilt 390 jasper engine. I was told, the engine was running rich, and the carb need to be adjusted. It really does go through fuel like a tank, and sputters a little, until the engine warms up. after that, it run a better.
The Fuel Sending United need to be changed, so I replaced it.
Afterwards, the engine cranked up, I ran it for a few minutes, and turned it off. I tried to crank it up again, and it won't crank. I smell fuel, even in the tail pipes.
I'm probably going to need for someone to come out and look at it.
but, thought maybe someone might have an idea, of what I could look at.

on a side note: there is one thing that kinda bothers me. This engine only has 350 miles on it. I pulled the plugs. 1 plug was wet, 1 plug had carbon. Not sure, if that is related to a carb running rich or not.

thank you for your help.

[stink bear]

It won't crank, or it won't start? I get the feeling it cranks but doesn't start.
I would pull the fuel line off at the carb, put the line into a container (bottle?), and have someone crank the engine, if it pumps fuel into the container that will verify you are getting fuel to the carb. Reinstall the line on the carb. Pull your air cleaner lid off, look in the carb and work the throttle, fuel should spray into the carb. If that checks good look for a spark problem.
If you're not getting fuel to the carb:
Did you have to disturb the fuel lines to replace the sending unit? If so a fuel line could be off it's fitting or the fuel line could have cracked when it was disturbed (likely if the fuel lines are old), if that's the case your fuel pump won't be able to suck fuel, it will suck air through the crack instead.
If you verify that you're getting fuel to the carb and the carb is spraying fuel, put the air cleaner lid back on.
Pull a spark plug, put the plug wire back on it, lay the plug on something that will ground it (like a bare spot on the frame), crank the engine and see if the plug is sparking.
I'm guessing something happened to your fuel supply since you were working on the fuel system.
There is one other possibility I can think of, it's flooded. If it's flooded you can crank it with the gas pedal to the floor, within 5 or 10 seconds it should clear itself and start. Just letting it sit long enough will also clear flooding.
Basic troubleshooting - If you were messing with something before there was a problem, go to that something you were messing with.
Good luck.

[tnlprt]

I would start with a fresh set of spark plugs and try again

[SemperFi]

Sorry, yes it wouldn't start... I guess it was flooded. I did what you mentioned, I pulled the fuel line off to the carb. turned it over. gas came out and it started.. I put the fuel line back on, and again it started.
Ya, the plugs do need to be replaced.

Thank you again.

[yamasaki]

I have a 390 with a 1406 also

Those 1406 come jetted way lean from the factory (for fuel efficiency).

The 1405 is the "performance" version of the carb (no electric choke).

Unless someone rejected/recalibrated the carb, it's probably not rich. The jetting kit for it is about $45. You should buy one and jet it at around 3 stages up from stock. Thats where mine is and it runs awesome.

The accelerator pumps do rot out often. They're only about $10. Make sure yours is working. take the air filter off and work the throttle back and forth a few times. You should visibly see or at least hear fuel spraying down into the carb. if not, replace the accelerator pump.

If you have the stock ignition system, check the gap in your points. Thats also another common source of no-start issues, specially when the truck gets hot. if it starts running rougher and rougher as it warms up, thats another good indicator its more-than-likely ignition related, not fuel related. i just swapped out the distributor and coil on mine and upgraded to a digital msd coil/distributor/control-module. HUGE difference.

good luck

[stink bear]

Glad to hear things worked out for you. Sounds like a carb rebuild may be in order. You would get a new accelerator pump with it. I have a 240 / 6 cyl and I have read that the accelerator pumps are not compatible with the fuel you get nowadays so they break down and need to be replaced often. It wouldn't surprise me to find out yamasaki is right and that the accelerator pumps on your carb will fail often as well. On mine I believe when the pump leaks it will drain the bowl into the intake. I know after sitting for more than a couple of days I have to crank a lot and pump the gas pedal to get it to start. I've never bothered to troubleshoot it since I plan to do an engine swap.

[stink bear]

Carb floats can sink too which will make the engine run very rich. Foam floats can absorb fuel and brass floats can leak. A good carb rebuild may make your truck start a lot better and use less fuel, maybe much less fuel.