To anyone who reads this post please disregard all of the useless advice given above.
The CARBS ARE IN PERFECT CONDITION EVEN AFTER NEAR 20 YEARS. An outboard will not run on zero fuel pressure. The 3 lb minimum is there for a reason, those so called gravity feed carbs can't gravity feed when the tank is below them. But anyway there is a limiting circut in the VRO that keeps constant 4 to 5 psi on the carb float bowls. If you dont have that when running, it will seem like all kinds of things are wrong. Mine is running great now and it only cost me a mere 101.97 for a new pump. Have a nice day wonder techs. Also to those who stumble upon this post. I found
http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/ to be a much more educated group of people with more educated answers. In short if you think you may be missing or running out of fuel go to your auto parts store get a 15 dollar fuel pressure gauge plumb it in on the output of the vro at the top and at idle it should be min. 3 psi no fluttering and at WOT it should be 4 to 5 psi with very little flutter. Troubleshooting is simple just do it with a little common sense.