Running after 10yrs sitting
 

Hey guys......need some help. I finally got my 72' 240 to start & run after sitting for 10 years. Fogged the cylinders, hand cranked the engine, etc, cleaned and reset the plugs and changed out the fuel line between the float & carb since someone (previous owner) used vaccuum lines for fuel line. After about 15 - 20 min of starting fluid and patience, it finally came to life and climbed to 2300 rpms and stayed there. I shut it down and went to my Haynes manual started reading and followed the adjustments and so on. Got it to idle down to 700 rpms and sounded good until I put the aircleaner back on, then it was like I didn't do anything, ran like a POS, would'nt idle unless I put my foot into it. The only thing I wasn't able to do was to balance the carbs due to I don't have a flowmeter. Any idea why the engine ran ok, then changed with the addition of the aircleaner (all ports on the aircleaner are clear and air filter is new)?

The air cleaner shouldn't make much difference. The reason for the fast idle must be a vacuum leak. When you put the air cleaner on it eliminated it so check all the hoses again to make sure none of them are rotted out.
Download the fsm and throw the Haynes away.

I was going to say that the air cleaners are probably trash and dont flow very well.

Back again.....I checked the hoses out, none are rotted. Started it up (without the aircleaner) made very minor adjustments and seems to run ok considering the carbs aren't balanced with one another yet, but still ran smooth. But right now, that's somewhat minor for now, since I discovered another problem.....the tranny (manual) will shift into all the gears without the engine running. As soon as I start it and try to put it in gear, it won't go even though I have the clutch pedal to the floor, but if I put it in gear, depress the clutch, and start it, it'll try to move and will move when I let the clutch out then when I depress the clutch again to shift, it will only go into neutral and no other gear........ideas???

See if the clutch fork on the transmission is actually moving when the clutch pedal is pressed. (Use a friend to press the clutch)

The clutch fork moved slightly if any, apparently enough to disengage the clutch that the car quit moving, but not enough to let me shift into another gear. The fluid level in the master clutch cylinder is full, was down a little just added to bring level.

i would flush out the fluid and bleed out the system, as if its sitting 10 year i would do it.