Thanks again for responding George.
Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to carry out your recommendations. Of course I have drained my battery charge with all the attempts to start the car -- so I'll need to get that charged up first.
I did notice that the fuel hose from the hard line to the filter looked pretty new but the fuel return hose looked really old. It doesn't seem like it would be a problem to introduce air into the hose on the return trip -- would it? The vaccuum hoses also look very old and have some seriouse cracks. Do the vaccuum hoses have anything to do with the fuel injection system (I wouldn't think so)? Any chance that they could be the culprit? I'm looking for easy/cheap fixes here
. It looks like the fuel supply hose is 5/16" and the return hose is 1/4" -- is that right?