Alright, here's the deal. Just bought an 86 f150 with the 4.9 in it, auto transmission, carb'd, 4x4, 87k original miles, typical rot over the wheel wells. I bought it from a small dealer where they never put anymore than a gallon of gas in at a time. I bought it for 1k, drove it home, filled it with gas. I started smelling gas. Thought I was just running a little rich until I looked under the truck and the middle of the tank was leaking. Long story short, switched out the tank. Had a rust out just above the seam at the strap. Blew out the lines, changed the fuel filter. I was driving down main street the other day, take off from a light and the truck dies. Tried to start it up, nothing. Had it AAA backed to my house. My float is sticking. I am guessing I didn't get to the gas tank soon enough and shot all kinds of crap up through the carb. What is the best/cost effective way to solve this problem? Should I just rebuild it? Have somebody else rebuild it? Take the opportunity to upgrade some? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Pretty new to the mechanic world by the way. Trying to learn as I go.

 

Why rebuild it clean it out & add a clear inline fuel filter.