Fuel in my oil & Engine!

[Bildo]

Here’s an interesting one. I have a 1971 Chevy C20 with a Jasper 350 and Edelbrock 1406 4bbl carb. About a month ago, I noticed it was running rich. Checked the carb and saw the secondarys were wet and there was fuel in the side troughs. Took the carb off and rebuilt it, checking the floats (good) and replacing all needles, seats, etc. Put the carb back on and it ran good for about 10 minutes, then started to run rich. Shut it off and once again, secondarys were wet. Also, my inline, clear filter was bubbling.

Ran out of time, so left it sitting for a few days. This is where it gets interesting.

Yesterday (5 days later) I still smelled fuel. Looked under and saw gas dripping from the fuel pump. Dripping fast. Pulled the line from the tank and blocked it. Still dripping fast. Pulled the line to the carb; still dripping fast. Loosened gas cap, large hiss indicating pressure in the system. Pulled off the fuel pump, and as the bolts were loosened, gas started squirting out of the block (about a quart). Pulled the dip stick, strong smell of gas. Pulled a spark plug, gas poured out (about an ounce). Pulled the rest of the plugs and gas came out of one other cylinder (2 out of 8). Drained the oil and I swear, 3 GALLONS of gas and oil poured out!! Assuming about one gallon was oil, that means 2 more gallons of gas made it’s way into the engine.

Every post I’ve found on these forums talk about a few ounces or traces of gas in their oil. None mentioned having gallons! How could the system have pushed that much gas into the engine with it not running?

My plan is to rebuild the carb again, checking everything even more closely, replace the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one, prime the engine with oil to re-lube it, change out that oil and put in more oil. Is there anything I’m missing? Does this make sense to anyone? It is so strange that there was gas below (likely pump problem) and above (carb problem) the cylinders.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.