Hello,
I have a '73 280 se 4.5.
It died the other day after I coasted into a gas station the day before when my fuel gauge needle stuck and I ran out of gas, first time its done that.
I gassed up and drove another 200 miles with no problems.
Then the following day I loaded up stuff to drop off somewhere and it dies around the corner from my house, sputters, dies and then won't start.
It has a pertronix, no problems since its been on there about a year.
I put a new bosch fuel filter on it about the same time.
Pump, not sure how old it is.
I disconnected the filter and turned on the key, it spit out one big squirt then nothing, repeated this step several times. This is right?
Should it keep running and should I hear it and see gas coming out as long as the key is on?
I'm going to check for spark tomorrow as I ran out of time today?
As far as other things to check, should I check the fuses under the dash?

the pump won't run continuosly until the engine does. what you are seeing is the fuel system prime. if the engine is not running, stalls, etc., the pump goes off to prevent feeding a fire in case of an accident. good luck, chuck.