Terry, If it's a Holley you're dealing with, know that they don't like to sit. A backfire will cause problems, too, such as blowing out the power-valve diaphragm. Check it the engine backfired when staring it. As for the float bowls, they eventually drain over time, causing the gaskets at the float bowls and/or metering blocks dry out, which will cause internal leaks. If the floats and needle seem to be working--pull the sight plugs to see if the fuel level is correct--procede to step two. SNUG the float-bowl bolts. If they feel very lose, chances are you've found the problem. Beware: Over-tightening these bolts will bend the main body of the carb. This can be fixed, but it's a pain. Run the engine to see if the problem is corrected.

If snugging the float-bowl bolts doesn't work, remove the bowls. metering blocks and scrape clean the gasket surfaces. Here's come the pain part. Check that the carburetor surface the metering block seals against is perfectly flat using a small straightedge. A 6-inch machinist scale will work. Just lay it again this surface in several directions, looking to see that there's no light between the rule and surface. If it appears to be bent or warped, file flat this surface. Be careful here. This operation must be done with the carb off the engine and on a bench. Some wet-or-dry sandpaper on a flat surface works, too. Run the carb body back and forth on the paper and look for high spots . . . they'll be bright. File or sand until the full face of the gasket surface is clean. Now reinstall the whole mess with new gaskets, install it on your engine and see how she runs.

I did not have time last evening to work on it but I will:

Change the plugs first thing

Again inspect and wipe the inside of the distributor cap

Leave the electric fuel pump on and look in the carb to see if fuel is leaking

Turn off garage lights to see if any Spark Plug Wires are arcing

Cross fingers and start engine!!

I will report back when these items are completed!!

Thanks for the advice!!

Terry
Start the engine b/4 looking at possible wire sparking to grounds instead of plugs. :LOL::LOL::LOL:

It's the carb all right, got 'sticky' from sitting around during the winter. Take it out and drive it like you stole it, maybe you'll get lucky and the carb will clear up. Could be stuck power valve, for instance. :D

I doubt that it is Carb. It could be cross arcing in the distributor cap or the wires going to no: 4 and 8 which are next to each other in the cap. If it was the carb all the plugs would be wet.With all the trouble people are having with the MSD ignition I must ask if you have checked the clearance between the center electrode and the distributor cap?... making sure that that actually touch, and check that electrode at the same time for erosion.

By "Center Electrode" do you mean the spring steel piece that sticks up from the rotor to contact the center of the distributor cap.
If so I did not check that when I pulled the cap off the other evening

All of the above points are well and good advice. Over the years I've read various scenarios along the same line at spring startup. Many years ago I was given a great bit of advice by an older friend of my father, a retired mechanic...if you plan on storing any car for an extended period of time, especially in the winter, always change the oil and filter, replace and gap the plugs, fill the tank to the top and faithfully start and run the engine every couple of weeks until it comes up to operating temperature and on occassion put it in gear and move the vehicle. Remember this was back in the mid '60's. I have followed his advice over the years anytime I 've ever stored any vehicle, especially in the winter months, even V-8 powered ski boats and have rarely had spring restart problems.
Just some food for thought

Yes, If you do not have a decent strong spring contact there, that center electrode will burn away causing all kinds of ignition problems.
John

It's a fuel problem.

He has spark to the plug.

Getting too much fuel (or bad fuel) to the cylinder to ignite.

I bought a Ariens snow blower about 15 years ago, and the store owner told me the same thing ... especially shutting off the fuel and running the carb dry. He said 80% of all gasoline repairs are from gasoline evaporating in the carb and leaving a "varnish" on all the parts.

I start the snow blower every month ... never had a problem. Changed the spark plug once in 15 years.

Of course, I start the Cobra up at least once a month too, and if its dry roads, I take it for a quick ride.

I had a similar problem years ago. I had spark when cranking ,there was gas... it would'nt start.. "It's the condensor" this was from my wife ,and of course she could not be right..I had spark. 2 hours later to humour my wife I changed the condensor and the thing fired right up. Go figure!!

Sometimes our better halves are smarter than we give them credit for:LOL:

If it's a holley, I'd bet my life on the carb. Happens every year on my buddy's chevelle. Last spring, we took the edelbrock off my truck and put it on his car, it started and ran perfect. Put the holley back on and it spits and backfires.

Carb is stuck

So, what was it?

Saturday I changed just the #4 and #8 spark plugs to minimize any changes and turned the key.
It fired on the first crank and runs normally now. I then let it cool and changed the rest of the spark plugs and fired it again and all is well.

It was cold when I started it the first time before the misfire so I guess when I choked it I got enough fuel into those two cylinders to kill the plugs!! I have never had that happen before because the plugs had only about 500 miles on them!!

Terry, that was my reaction the first time I ran into it. It was on an RX-7 rotary with some sort of injector problem (never solved that issue). It wouldn't start, but literally had fuel fogging out of the tail pipe it was so rich. I put in new plugs and it barely started and ran for as long as I wanted, but then it wouldn't start after I shut it off. Changed plugs again, it would barely start and run, shut it off and it wouldn't start. One time it almost started, died and wouldn't start...changed to another set of new plugs and it started. After 4-5 rounds of that, I gave it back to the buddy and shrugged my shoulders. Not sure why, but I concluded that the over-rich condition just killed the plugs.

Glad you got it fixed.