Thanks to some starter fluid, I finally was able to start my '73 350F after months of not it not running.
The root of its evils was the previous owner coating the gas tank with Kream. Ugh!!! I cleaned the tank several times but ended up having to buy another tank on Ebay. Had a mechanic re-build the carbs but some crap from the old tank must have made it through before I replaced the tank. It wouldn't start until I sprayed starting fluid into the carbs.
With the starting fluid, it started right away but now the engine makes a knocking sound when it idles. It didn't knock after the carbs were re-built though.
Anyone think bad gas in the carbs is causing the knocking sound at idle? It goes away over 2,000 rpm.
It's probably coincidental Lou, pull the clutch in while it's idling, if the "knock" disappears or is much reduced with the clutch in, it means that your carbs are out of synch.
There could still be some goop in them thanks to the old Kreem, so pull them off, thoroughly clean them with carb cleaner and compressed air, (first remove the fuel needle valves, every jet, screw etc to ensure that you've blown all the crap out of all of the internal circuits) "Bench Sync" them with a piece of wire as a gauge to set each slide, then stick them back on, and see how it runs.
