help in no start diagnosis?

[kickinindian]

i was in pismo today on my way back from the dunes and my car just didnt start, like you can tell that fuel was not getting to it. i have had this problem a couple times a year just randomly and if u just waited 30sec or so with the key set to on and then cranked it it worked out fine and idle perfect right after start up, but this time im 5 hours from home and it was not working out that way, pulled up the seat tapped on the fuel pump listened to it sounded like fuel was flowing fine, so i was stumped. i let my fiancees little bro take a crack at it, let a different mind take on the same problem, and he ended up taking off the return hose after the little silver round piece after the FPR
sooo like this ( FPR==-O-====>to fuel tank) he covered the hose going to the fuel pump and nothing came out when we tried to crank it, the second time he took his finger off the hose to the fuel tank and pressured fuel shot out of the little silver O piece and started right up. sooo im stumped as how i can prevent this from happening again..my guess is some sort of back pressure stopping the fuel from flowing at start up not allowing enough fuel to start?

[Me+SPEED=]

Start with the obvious, replace the fuel pump.

[kickinindian]

ive done that and i can hear it moving fuel

[s14pwd]

Old filter, resulting in a clog that gets disturbed every one in a while could cause those symptoms.

[kickinindian]

ahh yes that could be it...