Hey all. I just wanted to bounce some things off some of the more senior Subaru mechanics and get some ideas. Here's the skinny: Stock ea71 motor. Subaru was running okay, then one day was having problems accelerating from a stop/idle, and then eventually having problems starting. The acceleration problem apparently was the fuel filter. After replacing that, the acceleration problems never occurred again.
Now, truck has a real hard time starting. Starter turns and cranks the engine, and when I Take the filter off the carb (Weber) I can see fuel getting dumped into the manifold. Pulled plugs and cyl 1+3 looked rich, but not wet. Cyl 4 was rich AND wet, and Cyl 2 was lean, with a ton of buildup on the plug. Checked plug wires, all looked normal except Cyl 2. The connector was corroded and rusted out, and transfered to the connection on Cyl 2 spark plug, as well.
Additionally, I noticed when in operation, or trying to turn on the fuel pump (in the engine bay) leaks like a siv. The carb IS getting fuel, and it obviously does turn on, but I'm not sure how much fuel I'm losing through that thing.
Looks like I will need to tune the carb, perhaps do a compression check, and then from there see if I need to look at the piston rings/valves.
Anything I'm missing, or should take a look at? Seems like it's gotten a lot worse since it's cold now. Please keep in mind this is my first "project" car, and also my first carburetor vehicle I've ever really worked on that was "mine", so I'm fairly green on the classics, and would love some advice. Thanks in advance.