Installing a manual choke.

[takza]

I recently put one of these in. Here is the story....


It was a rainy night...I'd lost another case after months of work...and I'd just taken my last swig of brew and threw the bottle into the gutter. I staggered on down the street...the streetlights making a variagated pattern on the rain spackled pavement. Then suddenly I said...the hell with this story...I decided to put a manual choke in my car.


JCWhitney sells the kit for $9 (can be found elsewhere?):


http://www.nonags.org/members/nijqk/manual%20choke.gif


How I installed it:

* the auto choke is on the back of the carb...you will need to remove the air cleaner to see it.

* the black cover is held on by 3 rivets going into 3 tabs on the alum housing. The rivets need to be cut or ground off to pull the sheetmetal retaining ring off. Care is needed to avoid breaking the housing tabs off...espec the bottom one. Very likely only the two top ones need to be removed...the ring is then bent down out of the way...enough to remove the black cover.

* the wire running to the choke needs to be cut and the end insulated.

* after removing the 2 top rivets and bending the retainer down...you can remove the black cover and some of the components inside.

* at this point it is just a matter of assembling the right cover (provided) along with the arm and so forth.

* I used two selftapping sheetmetal screws to hold the new cover on in place of the removed rivets.

* the bolt that holds the accelerator cable at the valve cover can also be used to hold and locate the end of the choke cable.

* I did need to drill a hole for the choke cable in the firewall maybe an inch or so to the drivers side of where the accel cable goes thru the wall. I drilled from the engine compartment side. Take care to get it right the first time and don't hit anything vital.

* The end of the cable inside, where you adjust the choke, was fastened just to the left of the radio...screwed to the plastic housing. It might be better to put it on the other side of the steering wheel so both the key and the choke can be worked at the same time.

* Routing the cable wasn't too bad...it does need to dip down some to go under the air cleaner right before getting to the choke. And the part between the firewall and the valve cover needs to be kept away from the plug cables.

How does it work?

I now have a fairly decent idle...a little rough...but no stalling period and no high idle problems...right around 900-1000 rpm. I left all the choke breaker/backoff linkages connected.

It does OK. I've noticed that I can't start the car if the choke is fully closed....so far about 2/3s closed is best. Then after a few seconds...if I see rpm "cycling"...then I know it is still too far closed (running rich)...so I tick it open a little more.

I need to keep it closed some to get thru a few stop signs...but after this I open it fully.

If you have a situation where you go from parked to a clear open road...you could easily open it fully as soon as you would hit 3rd gear or so.

Have not seen the amazing gain in mpg that was mentioned...though due to global warming...winter is still on the way....

[ARCHINSTL]

Off-topic, but I could not resist..........
Upon reading the first paragraph, I thought that this was the beginning of an account
by Guy Noir, Private Eye.....clever!
Tom M.
PS: Good writeup! I purchased one of these from AutoZone in 2005 - but returned it when I figured out that I needed a reman carb.

[takza]

That's Guy Noir, Private Mechanic......