Well if you don't have one then your intake seal probably broke. You need that bracket to keep the seal or the vibration will just beat it away. Bike won't last more than a couple hundred miles without that bracket

 

Gotcha, I will order one this week. Not sure how my dad had and road it for the past 40+ years without it. Thanks!

 

Carbs are usually well behaved. So much so that Ford way back wouldn't allow for warranties to include them. Another story.
Sometimes with troubleshooting it's a return to basics. It appears you have spark and fuel. I would run a compression test.

 

Any of your dad's old riding buddies still around? If so they would be a gold mine for help and info on dealing with the old bike's. Shovels while forgiving do need a bit of hands on knowledge to get you on the right path with one.

Just a thought.

 

Unfortunately I don't live in the same state as he did. Once he passed, I had a big estate sale to sell his house, shop, and everything else. This was pretty much the only thing I kept. This was the first bike he had bought new and has had ever since (among many others over time). Was pretty much his pride and joy. He was the VP of an MC back in the day but I'd have no idea if any of them were still around since I didn't live there.

 

Bummer, but that tells me the bike should squared away well enough without all the usual backyard goobering up I seen way to much of.

Good luck and stick around there's some very knowledgeable shovel guys in here and we're always glad to lend a hand where we can, might be a bit gruff sometimes but don't take it personal we mean well.

 

< edit: what kind of carb is it? could the little idle air ports at the edge of the butterfly clogged? >

If opening the idle screw doesn't fix this, you have an electrical problem. If it doesn't run on starter fluid, it's not carb related. I'd look for a loose or pinched wire. Maybe readjust the push rods, but you said it was sudden. That's what leads me to electrical.

ps. Welcome to the fold.

 

If your plugs are wet but have fire, it's sounding like a possible timing issue. Have you static checked the timing?
Other than that it does sound like it could be air leak since you said you see gas squirting in the carb.
You are 100% sure you don't have bad gas?

 

Just put fresh gas in at the pump last time I had it out. maybe 5 days ago.

 

Slim, but I have gotten bad gas before at the pump. Stuff a rag under the carb and pop the drain cap, see if she picked up any water during that fill up. Also pull the fuel line and put the petcock in the reserve position, drain some into a glass jar or something you can see through, look for water or crude.

Also before you try all this pop the right hand tank cap open then try to start her, sometimes the vent port in the cap can plug up and it'll pull a vacuum on you starving the bike. Had a tiny spider made a nest in mine once, drove me nuts for a couple days till I found that.