Fuel line Mod Questions- Confused

I have a friend who burned his garage down when he was drilling a fuel tank, lost his 70 cuda' too. He pulled and drained the tank and left it out for a week or so and thought it was empty.

Since it is a gravity feed system, why not just try leaving the cap off for a couple of test drives to see if this cures the issue.

Sometimes the rubber lines get soft and will collapse under a slight vacuum, which basically shuts the fuel off. Might try swapping them out with new, I had a Chevelle that was notorious for this, had to sit for like 30 minutes before it would start and run again.