Well, let's try to make a long story short:

- I put my coupe back together, dropped it at the garage Thursday and picked it up Friday with the alignment done and the brakes finally correctly blead ... I love the upgrade to power disc, huge difference, a must have!

- Saturday, drove the stang around, having new project ideas ... clearly need some work on the steering ... short ratio steering gear or maybe rack and pinion ... will see - other than that, clutch doing great, toploader shifting smoothly, riding 80 - 85 mph no vibrations ... just HAPPY!

- Sunday morning, great morning! picked up my 66 fastback and drove it back home - needs some work but nice car, and 99.9% sure it is a true GT so it is getting late, getting ready to go to my soccer game at 6PM with my neighbor and I had to take the stang (coupe) ... we have a 20 miles ride on the interstate, flying! everything great, I pull out at the exit ramp, arrive to a traffic light, and there we stall, no way to crank up again! pop up the hood, I can see a gas leak on the back of the carb and when I try to crank up some white smoke is coming out ... ended up getting towed back home and the wife upset with me ...

Any ideas of where I should start my troubleshooting? my neighbor thinksI may have flooded the engine ... any help would be very very much appreciated

I did try to make it short - maybe I just was not as successful as promised in my first sentence

 

sounds like flooding.
maybe a float problem in the carb - hole in it or adjustment. You tried starting it since?

 

Just tried, did not crank up - will let it sit tonight and all day tomorrow, then will try again - the thing that bothers me most is that I have a steep driveway so the driver of the tow truck unloaded that car on the grass in front of the house ... do not like the stang sitting out there, I like it in my garage at night!

 

so its turning over but not firing?

does it have a choke?

you could try taking the aircleaner off and manually choking it with your hand (2 person operation) just to get it off the side of the road.

might need another battery and jump cables

 

make sure all your leads are on the diz properly too. it just might not be getting enough spark
Ford v8 will usually start even flooded...might only be on 4 cyls!

 

Yes turning over but not firing - I do have a manual choke - I will try your sugegstion tomorrow after work

"make sure all your leads are on the diz properly too" what do you mean? spark plugs check? before this, the car was cranking up right away, never had an issue excepted when it was on stands and I let the battery run empty ...

 

well in my experience, the ford v8 will always start even flooded as long as you have enough spark. it will start rough on less than 8 cylinders unless you dont have enough juice in the battery or a lead is loose on the diz (usually the coil lead) or a plug.

However this is treating the symptom not the cause...trying to get it started to get it off the street. hope you find out what caused it in the first place. If you have a bit of crappy fuel (especially if its been sitting around for a while) it may just be a bit of crud under the needle and seat meaning the float cant block off the fuel supply.

good luck

 

Just got back from work - tried to crank up, wouldn't ... I removed the air filter... and it started!!! so I drove it as quick as I could in the garage! only one night outside, I was already picturing the car spending several days out there !

There is fuel coming out of the carb on the rear side - I am going to buy a re-build kit and start from there ... any other ideas / suggestions? I also spotted some wiring that was melted due to exposure to heat, may have to change that as well

 

You obviously have a float that is not adjusted right or is sticking. Tap the side of the carb with the handle of a screwdriver to get the float to loosen. And, go ahead and put a new kit on that puppy. That way you will know the gakets are all new, and that proper adjustment of the float was performed. It's easier to work from the known, than to be guessing.

 

sure sounds like crap under the needle and seat. you could try pulling the rear float bowl off and clearing it first.

do you have an in line fuel filter?
If not, id be fitting one before repairing the carb to make sure you dont undo all your good work.