Starting my new '84 after she sat for 3 years

Just brought this tan '84 home from her previous owner. Move went smooth after the rear drums were unstuck with a hammer, tow strap and a buddy's Jeep.

She sat for 3 years in the PO's garage. I did not start when I bought. This relationship is all charm and looks to begin.

We dollied her to my place and I set the battery on a Battery Tender, pulled the plugs and oiled the cylinders and threw some penetrating oil on engine fasteners. We also named her Carmelita.

The battery looks clean and took a day to charge. The plugs look used but not out of sorts. Since a goal for this truck is to keep her well fed and costing as close to purchase price as possible everything went back together. She spun right up but did not catch. A shot of starter fluid works for a second but am guessing no fuel.

A spark plug tester shows good spark. Carb and air filter look very clean.

I jump under the truck to attempt to figure something out with the fuel lines/pump but am now out of my depth...

It appears the carb has 2 fuel lines coming in the same fitting, 1 small and another larger. By remove the bolt we observe that no fuel is coming in when key is on and gas is pressed.

Next step I believe would be to check fuel pump and fuel pump relay? I crawl under the new girl and find a bit of rust and what I think is the fuel pump hanging by 1 rubber mounted screw - the other loose form the frame. It does not make any noise when the ignition is turned.

Any advice for further troubleshooting would be appreciated?

Is it an auto or manual trans? If it is manual it should have a mechanical fuel pump on the side of the head.

not sure how it works in the first generation pickups, but if you have an electric pump, I would try jumpering the pump to see if it is a pump issue or a relay issue.

Manual trans. Nick is that the head of the engine or someplace else I should be checking?

Any chance of damage if I jumper improperly?


I started to clean the engine bay - a cat used it as a latrine before. 2 of the fuse box clips corroded and are snapped off. 1 is labelled cooler and the other... I cannot recall. Maybe the cat piss has sped up the corrosion in the fuse box. Can see where somebody previously fixed another fuse with a broken clip with epoxy. They'd also jumpered one of the corroded fuses by splicing an inline fuse holder into the harness. Haven't been able to find the brass clips.

Maybe the 2 are related.

These trucks don't have mechanical pumps, there electric. Try hitting the carb with starting fluid. These trucks don't take much to start them.