Appreciation post: the $12 fuel filter that fixed my '78 Bronco's bog
Spent 3 weekends chasing a hesitation off idle, rebuilt the carb, checked timing twice, even swapped plugs. Turned out the inline filter was letting junk past, and a $12 Napa part smoothed it right out. Anyone else get humbled by the cheap stuff first?
I read somewhere that most carb problems are actually ignition problems, and most ignition problems are actually fuel problems. Sounds like you proved that one. Buddy of mine chased a stumble for weeks on a 302, swapped every part in the ignition, turned out to be a chunk of crap in the tank clogging the pickup screen. The cheap stuff gets overlooked because we all want the fix to be something cooler than a filter. Good on you for actually finding it instead of throwing more parts at it.