vc10786

I am working on a 1991 EJ22E engine and the car was left sitting for 10+ years. Sadly the owner left it sitting without draining out the fuel, and now I am trying to clean out essentially molasses from the fuel system(dark brown syrupy nasty old gasoline). The fuel pump is a gummed-up goner, but the fuel lines cleaned out okay, and now I am trying to get the fuel rail on top the engine cleaned out. I disconnected the fuel hoses and tried gravity-running a funnel full of fresh gas through the fuel rail, but it seems plugged up. So I attempted to clear it out with compressed air instead, and there seems to be a lot of back pressure. Some air comes out the other side, but it's definitely not free-flowing. Is the fuel rail supposed to be free-flowing, or is high pressure supposed to be required to get any flow through it? I already applied a vacuum pump to the FPR to simulate low manifold pressure, hoping to open the orifice and let the fresh fuel flow through the rail easier and out the return outlet, but it seems to have no effect. Still lots of back-pressure. Is the fuel rail plugged up? Or is it normal for it to be difficult to flow through? Thanks.