I hear horror stories here, but...
In high school, after I got my driver's license, my sister told me
that I could have the Fiat Spider that she had had sitting in our
garage for the past 5 years. Not one to refuse a challenge, I went
to work. Replaced the spark plugs, replaced the fuel hose from tank
to pump, set the points and timing, changed the oil, water, and
battery. The car started right up, after I (accidently) nudged
the automatic choke closed. I put some more gas in the tank, and
it ran very well indeed. No damage was done to the electric fuel
pump or carbs. Maybe fuel injection systems are more sensitive, but
I doubt it, because carbs have tiny orifices (jets) whose size is
_critical_ if you want to get the correct mixture. OTOH, F.I.
systems are partially self-correcting via the O2 sensor.
.
-b.