80 bird with 3208 cat keeps stalling - PLEASE help

[Adria Haynes]

Gurus,

I had been here for a while, took a break, but have been lurking
again
for a while. I NEED HELP!

What I have is a Wanderlodge 35fc with a newer 3208 Cat. We just
used it last month for a long weekend that was 2 hours away and
everything went excellent. We started the trip with 1/4 tank,
filled up, and had 1/2 tank when the trip was over - which how it
has sat for the past
month.

I fired it up for a few minutes on Thursday night to make sure we
were ready to rock for the long weekend. After getting everything
ready to head out - it wouldn't stay running. Per advice from
friends and family, I changed the fuel filter at the back of the
motor with a brand new one that was FULL of fuel. I also changed out
the water seperator and filter under the LP compartment door. I
removed, refilled, and reinstalled the engine bay fuel filter a
number of times. Each time priming it with the primer.

After removing the air filter, the bus would start and run if I shot
and kept shooting starting fluid down the intake. After a while, it
seemed to be able to sustain on its own. I had to keep the throttle
pulled back to keep it idling a little over 1200. While the tach
indicated steady RPM's, the cloud out the back indicated sputtering
within. Again, after a while it would run on its own, seem to run
well, but not for long before it would start to sputter. At that
point, I would remove the new fuel filter and find it to be only
about 1/4 full of fuel - making me to believe that it died when the
fuel filter ran out of fuel. When removing the new filter, at the
point when the seal breaks, it gives out that "shtook" popping sound
as though it were under heavy suction.

Another interesting thing is that after having been run, I would
turn the valve on the water seperator. Not only would the liquids
not just stream out - it would "burble and chug" out the bottom but
only do so after it looked like it sucked air IN - as though there
were a natural vacuum.

After having the vacation already wrecked, I need to focus on
getting it back up and running again ASAP. I read a post on the
vintagebirds.com site in which a gentleman indicated that he had an
81 with a 1/2 tank that acted like he was out of fuel and that he
added more fuel and it behaved as long as he kept it above the 1/2
tank level until he did something with a 1/4" copper line.

I'm unclear as to what he did to fix it and cannot contact him.

Is it a common problem for a bird such as mine to ALL OF A SUDDEN
act like it has a heavy fuel restriction or act like its out of
gas? My uncle seems to think its acting like it's sucking air into
the line or there is a restriction.

Please help, I'm desperate. Any help, suggestions, or anything
would be HUGELY appreciated.

Thanks, John in Flint.