I disconnected the fuel pump inlet line just to see if any fuel was there. There was none. I did not think that every time you shut an engine off the gas tank would reclaim all of its fuel by sucking it back from the lines. Does this usually occur? That's just the point I was trying to make. I have not bumped the starter with this line disconnected because that just wouldn't make sense, but I understand where the confusion came from - my apologies.
I disconnected the carb inlet line, downstream from the fuel pump, from the side of the carburetor, then bumped the starter. No fuel came out of this line (the one that would usually supply fuel to the carb).
So, I did do a flow test as stated here:
Anyway here is what a flow test is: Install pump on motor, CONNECT pump inlet line from tank. DISCONNECT line AT carb. Put disconnected carb line end into a quart container. DISCONNECT center tap on distributor so motor does not start and no sparks to cause fire. Then crank starter and watch fuel being pumped into the container as if it was being pumped into carb. You should see a fairly good pulsating stream of fuel and start to fill up container pretty fast. This test tells you that pump is good and everything, all the way back to fuel pick up tube, is good.
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AFTER no fuel was present, and AFTER blowing air down the line with the bicycle pump, and reconnecting everything, there obviously was fuel to the carb because the engine ran.
Later tonight, I will re-do the flow test as stated above, and just start the process over.
