[bandito2]

If you had to unplug the power to the fuel pump, I just wonder if it may have had an intermittent bad connection. (one of those hard to find gremlins) And plugging it back in made the connection good again. Sounds like a possibility. The carb could have been temporarily blocked. No vacuum feed petcock as you see it has an electric fuel pump. And yes... the removal of all that plastic to get to the fuel tank AND the fuel filter is a common gripe when it needs to be accessed. Some owners add extra length to the fuel filter line and move it to a more accessible spot.

It seems gremlins don't like being exposed to daylight. Funny, but often going through the noise and motions of removing covers, unplugging items, removing parts, finding nothing wrong and then putting it all back together again seems to chase the gremlins away... This, from experience and tales from others.