Okay, so my buddy's '73 Scamp with a 318 keeps dying on him for no apparent reason. He tends to think it's the fuel/fuel pump (and the "dirty old gas"), but I'm convinced it's something else.
His dad's set the timing, rebuilt the carb (which still leaks out the side), replaced many (and likely still good) fuel filters-

He's replaced a lot of stuff, and it still dies.

I'm just wondering what/how we should check next.
And I was wondering about the ballast resistor...?

I dunno, I've told him I need to drive it to get a feel for what it's doing, and he gets frustrated and tells me "I can't test drive it if it's not running,".

I dunno, he seems like one of those people that thinks working on cars is "super-easy" and has gotten lucky with a few simple fixes.

I think it's timing; but I haven't even got to go in there with a timing light to see what checks out-

 

Has the car been sitting for a long time? when it dies, is there any warning? What are the weather conditions? I had a Demon that would not want to run in wet or damp weather. It could be a simple electrical problem or a fuel delivery problem. The more info you can get, the easier it will be to figure out the problem. I don't think timing is the issue if the car will run for any period of time.

 

drop the tank out and dump the old gas and clean it out, then blow the lines out with compressed air (disconnect lines from carb first)

 

Moisture in the distributor cap.

 

The car was sitting for awhile. Not too much warning that I notice, and the weather's been pretty nice (it won't want to start 'til you floor it, and then it seems to "flood" easily).

We've cleaned out the dist cap a few times, and I can't think what else.

I want to help my buddy, but I really feel like I'm shooting in the dark...?

 

check your carb if it is leaking then it may be over filling the float bowl. when it does start what color is the exhaust if it is black it's running way too rich. blue is oil and white is coolant or moisture in the exhaust.

 

(Quote)rebuilt the carb (which still leaks out the side),
You also mentioned it needs to be floored to start at all.
My guess is this is where you need to look first. A leaky carb was not rebuilt right, where is it leaking? Might want to go over the whole thing.

Working on cars "is" easy but you have to know what you are doing.