Got everything buttoned up and connected - trying to fire the beast up now to win this bet and it's just turning and turning and turning with not even an attempt to fire. Hooked a spark tester to #1 - got a good white spark. Removed & reconnected all the plug wires just to be sure and moved to check fuel. Cranking it for 30 seconds I can smell some fuel but the #1 plug was bone dry. Thinking maybe the TBI is clogged - unhooked the fuel lines and cranked again - no gas came puking out of the line (I'd imagine with the ignition in the 'ON/RUN' position it would puke fuel out of the feed line).

Going to drop the fuel filter and see if it pukes fuel out from there next. I hear the fuel pump kicking on and whining for a few seconds when turning the ignition on so I'm pretty confident the pump is getting power (not saying it's not bad, but I really don't want to attack the fuel pump).

So guess the question is, I should get fuel puking out of the line when trying to crank the motor yeah? Don't think I'm barking down the wrong tree here - it's clear I have no fuel to the TBI and (I hope) once I get that squared away and figure out how to get a damn wrench in and loosen the dizzy I can get this thing to fire up after a year of dormancy!

 

It is much safer to use a fuel pressure gauge attached to the fuel line at the back of the intake manifold. You can measure the max pressure and how long it takes to drop. Having gasoline being squirted around an engine is a recipe for bad things to happen!

 

Sounds like a first gen TBI injection.
Can you be a bit more specific on the year and type of your Blazer.

Turn key and listen for fuel pump to run for a short time (3 - 4 seconds) - and with all the hoses connected to where they should be fitted.
If the fuel pump does not turn on, start with the fuse box. Most of the time it's a bad fuel pump or wiring.

Christine is absolutely right!

You get an impressive fuel spray from the pump with the hose disconnected at the TBI. Fuel pressure gauge is the way to go.

 

Yeah, so in hindsight, not the best way to troubleshoot a fuel issue - but I left out some details as I was under the gun. I smelled fuel when trying to start, but not very strong. My 2nd hand/eyes there didn't see any fuel spraying either. Thinking the TBI was clogged, I pulled them off. Threw the feed line into a bottle (so not to spray it everywhere) and bumped it a couple times. Nothing came out.

Went back to the fuel filter and did the same thing, pulled the feed line off the inlet of the filter, again nothing. Key on, fuel pump kicks off and you can hear it doing it's thing. Fuel tank shows 1/4 tank still.

Scoped the tank with my camera - bone effin' dry. Threw in 5 gallons of fresh gas, new fuel filter and sure enough, fuel came out and I discovered the timing was 180 off. Flip of the dizzy and some musical plug wires - BOOM it's alive.

 

Great you got that fixed. Bugger if the fuel gauge reads 1/4 with empty tank.

 

Glad to find it, now we know 1/4=empty. Fill up when it's at a half and we'll be good. Just need to figure out where the coolant leak is coming from, get a new overflow tank on there and be good.