I hate to post threads that have obviously been addressed in the past, but
here goes. jdr5q (Dec 21/07) has a similar problem, but just different enough to confuse me. This beastie will either hard start, or start, idle smoothly, then sputter and die after about 30 seconds. I had to discourage the owner from pumping the accelerator like a carbed car, but otherwise everything looks pretty clean and stock under the hood. Car has, believe it or don't, 97,000 miles and almost no rust! Trying to discourage a "rip it all out and install a Weber" approach!

I really suspect blocked fuel delivery, but the filter and the in-tank fuel sock were replaced recently (last year, car not driven much). I was going to rule out ignition problems first, like you're supposed to do, but any thoughts before I dive in would be appreciated. How about the trigger points on the distributor?
Fuel pump? Relays? Not in Kansas anymore! THX