I had an 81 short bed 2x4 and an 83 long bed 4x4 that both had the same problem, and this was when they were relatively new trucks, less than 4 yrs old.
With the 83 I had just gotten into off-roading and being in the middle of nowhere with a slow starting truck was a little concerning.
84/85 model trucks were out and these guys werent having this problem with the same basic engine.
A good friend of mine with an 81 finally showed me how he fixed his issue, he used an electric fuel pump with a switch.
The carb and fuel lines were draining down overnight, when the floats got so far down they would momentarily get stuck and sometimes cause flooding after the mechanical pump pulled enough fuel in to refill the system.
This is also a problem when climbing hills over a certain grade, the engine get fuel starved.
At one time there were a couple aftermarket mfgrs making improved carb floats for these engines that solved this problem, but many off-roaders solved the problem with elect fuel pumps that forced the fuel through on steep grades.
Unfortunately the fuel pump fix also cause a little stumble as the grade shallows out.
works perfectly. Starts right up and fuel pressure doesn't drop down. Thanks for the quick responses