Q: I was thinking it's either just the gas being bad or a cloged jet in the carb, what do you guys think? Something else?

background info below:

I have an old '84 Ranger with the 2.3L OHC in it. It had a rebult 1bbl installed on it a few years ago and then the truck sat for about 4 or 5 years after that, starting it very infrequently. Now the engine won't start unless you squirt carb-&-choke cleaner into the intake (poor-boy's starting fluid) if it hasn't been running in the past 5 minutes or so.
The engine idles smoothly and has good power, so I don't think I'm getting a vacum leak. I am un-able to drop the tank and drain it on the truck, so I dumped a bottle of STP fuel treatment, a bottle of Heat, and a half a can of B-12 ChemTool in the tank and topped off with about 6 gallons of premium unleaded.


Oh, no, I haven't changed the fuel filter yet, was going to wait till I burned that tank of fuel out before I put a new filter on it.

thank you for your time;
bd

 

I would change the filter, cheap and easy.
I am also willing to bet on a worn out fuel pump, electric or mech?
It could also be a worn out accelerator pump, look down the carb and pup it a couple of times and it should squert some fuel down the hole.

 

acc pump.... maybe even a choke