After months of time, sweat and needless money spent on parts I couldn't find the issue with the sputtering off idle and poor full throttle performance.

I know better than throwing new parts at a problem without proper diagnosis, but this is exactly what I ended up doing.

I finally ran a compression test with excellent readings on all 6 cyl. at 155# each.

I then moved onto the fuel system. I hate working on fuel systems for no other reason than dealing with smelling like a chemical factory for days.

I first checked pressure after the filter with no bypass and found a good high reading. I then checked the pressure in line and saw a much worse reading of around 20-25 psi. After this finding, I then removed the sender unit to find this horror.

I've never seen a tank in this poor of condition. There is rust flaking off the walls and this sender is completely gunked up.

 

Did the car sit for a long time (like 2+ years) ?

 

I believe the previous owner let it sit for more than 2 years. I purchased the car not running, and was successful at getting it to run, but not well. Another lesson learned.

I've pulled a few sender units from different cars in the past and I've never found one in this poor condition. It looks like the sender is coated in mud. After it sat outside the tank for a day and dried, I attempted to clean it with a small stiff brush. Parts of it cleaned up amazingly well. Unfortunately I was less than careful with the small wires and broke a couple connections. I guess I should have let the sender soak in some SeaFoam or something before attempting to take a brush to it.

Now I'm finding it extremely difficult locating a replacement sender and tank at a reasonable price. So far, this will be the most expensive set of parts I've replaced to date in my attempt to get this car back on the road.

I appreciate any tips as to where I can find a new tank or good sender unit at a reasonable cost.

Thanks