Escort Mk2 struggling to stay at idle - any help appreciated

[nimda]

Hey guys... anyone good with troubleshooting old Eskies? I have a Mk2 Escort with a 2.0L Pinto motor with a Weber DGV that was running - albeit not super well - about six months ago. While on the road the gearshift lever snapped off and it sat for a few months until I got another one ordered. Installed the new gear lever and I find that the car won't start and idle for more than ~1 second and it would not start with the choke set to anything but fully closed. Throttle position changed nothing.

Thinking that the carbs were the culprit I pulled them, ultrasonically cleaned everything, cleaned with carb cleaner, blew them out with high pressure air and put in a rebuild kit covering O-rings, gaskets, internal filter, valve seat and needle. Fuel filter renewed at the same time. The carbs weren't particularly clean inside and the internal filter was very clogged.

Brass floats were tested, no leaks there. Float height set as per manual.

New carbs on annnnnd... same problem. It'll run fine on starter fluid but it will only start on closed choke and will only run for ~1 second at a time. Mixture screw or idle speed screw being altered change nothing.

Thinking the fuel filter may be part of the problem I renewed the fuel lines and temporarily eliminated the filter, no change.

The engine will run on starter fluid for as long as you care to spray it in the intake for, so I suspect that timing is not the culprit.

I pulled the top of the carbs off and noted that the fuel level in the carb bowl was barely sufficient to cover the jets. The float appeared to be able to move up and down freely. I added 30ml of fuel to the bowl, closed it all back up again and the car started and ran for about 15 seconds before dying. Upon re-starting it would only run for ~1 second.

Since the float appeared to move freely, this leads me to suspect that the fuel pump isn't filling the bowl sufficiently rapidly. When you pull the fuel line off the mechanical fuel pump and crank the motor, should the fuel be coming out at a drip.. drip.. drip.. rate or faster than that? All I get are steady drips, nothing like what you'd call a flow. I know it's a low-pressure pump but have no real idea of just what should be coming out.

Any other thoughts are MOST welcome. I would really like this car back on the road so I can get a blue slip and get it out of the yard...