The Most Troublesome Part Of Any Carbureted Car
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ค. 2024
- The automatic choke is a system with hundreds of variations and dozens of ways to malfunction. Here's a quick rundown of how they work, and why you're probably better off without one at all.
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Good Ol' Manual Choke Never Fails
I've had problems with the cables, but twenty times more problems with automatic chokes.
John Wilburn I’ve never really had a problem with either I’ve ran both on my truck but I do prefer electric for convenience
@Michael Bertoni Let her read this.
@Michael Bertoni She sure does lol
@@johnwilburn Control Cables Inc. (no I don't make any money from suggesting this). Their cables just solve so many problems!
Yup, then my mom would load up the neighborhood kids, and we go in town racing LOL
Memories I never wanna forget. She would be in jail doing that today. LMAO
@@diymisfit_Mechanic_UDX404 My mom had a AMC Concord. Not doing much racing with that. Now the 72 Olds Cutlass with the 350 rocket she had before this, was a different story lol
Had a 70 Plymouth with a bi metallic choke. Adjusted it once and after 225,000 miles of driving, the choke always worked.
That's why the air cleaner lid was held on by a wing nut, so you could remove it by hand to get access to insert the screwdriver blade so it held the choke plate open a bit. I'm surprised that they didn't add a strap to make the wing nut "Captive" so that it wouldn't get lost in all the excitement of the cold-morning start-up routine.
@Gregg Noonberg my mom had a blue and white 74 blazer remember same thing at Gibson's
I cried out to God one time with regards to a poorly performing automatic choke, and he told me that he had, indeed, intended for all chokes to have manual cables...
I love old school carburetor talk. I grew up on cars with these. I intuitively learned how to feather them. Listening to tell rich from lean, long before I learned how they worked. If you didn’t? You couldn’t drive anywhere in the winter. The automatic chokes with the heat crossover worked pretty well...until the coil spring in the exhaust pipe broke. Or the weight rusted and fell off. For ultimate reliability, like the ‘53 Ford, 3 on the tree, I drove into the early 1980s, the manual choke was the “Bee’s Knees”. It did tend to get carburetor icing on a cool/cold and humid morning and wouldn’t idle worth crap. I devised a work around. It involved the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket cut to fit over the oil bath air cleaner, a 3” PVC Tee and pipe, and a manually operated butterfly valve made from the metal lid of a jar of peanut butter. With some aircraft heat ducting connected to a makeshift sheet metal contraption over some of the cast iron exhaust manifold. It worked like a charm, barely. I’m serious as a heart attack. I was commuting to school in LA and it was very bad to have your engine die on an uphill stoplight during morning traffic. That was about a block from my apartment. I worked as a gas pumper at the local airport in the summer. and scrounged the design idea and parts from my bosses junk pile. The engine eventually broke a rod cruising home North on I-5 in Northern California to Medford OR. My Dad and Mom came with his Minnie Winnie motorhome and strap towed me to the far side of the Siskiyou pass brake check area. He said I should just coast down the ~15 miles to Ashland and then he would tow me home. It worked great...except it was raining fairly hard and the ‘53 Ford’s wipers were vacuum powered. No engine? No vacuum. No heater. So I had to keep the window down with my hand and arm stuck out in the freezing cold rain to manually operate the wiper. All while watching my Mother staring at me out of the back of the motorhome with a concerned look. It’s a steep winding freeway mountain road with a couple of truck runoffs. Fortunately the rainwater kept my “high tech” 4 wheel drum brakes from fading. My Dad put a rebuilt engine in it and used in Portland OR where he was based as an airline pilot. Where it is cool/cold and humid. He called and said it kept dying on him when cold. I told him to put my Rube Goldberg contraption on the engine. He always looked at it as a dubious thing. He called me back and said “GD it works”. I learned everything in know about cars and mechanics from my Dad. I miss him.
Thank you, great story! ❤
Checking in from Medford Oregon. Love the story. It played in my mind while reading it like a movie 😂
@@Ivusmchine Thanks, Brother. There's more strange, almost unbelievable, twists to the story. That are interesting.
I still miss my Dad.
Thanks for the nice considerate comment.
Uncle Tony, Maybe I'm old school but a manual choke is the way to go!
As a young man I owned an equal number of GM and Mopars.
I put manual chokes on my Mopars, it just made life simpler.
Does the cable need maintenance? Mine seems to work intermittently
I’ve always had better luck with the manual choke
No luck is needed with a manual choke.
LunarOutlaw’s Garage manual choke is the best
I've always had more luck with my right hand
Like God intended! :p
I've had better luck just removing the choke assembly and feather the throttle.
Well on some cold mornings my chicken needs choked a bit for a good start to the day
john woodworth hahahhahah
LMFAO
Having a bad automatic choke would ruin your day completely.
Exactly why God created woman !!!
When I rebuilt my Satellite I put in a manual choke on my Edlebrock on purpose. The weather here in Iowa is unpredictable at best.I also inadvertently dropped it back open halfway after starting without realizing why. It just ran better. Now I know.
Same reason I went manual choke on my Edie sitting in my '34 Ford.
Atleast it’s been getting warm out! And it’s looking like it’s gonna stay warm too. I’m in Des Moines so it might differ for you
This is fantastic information. I have been driving my first carburated vehicles for almost a year now and you described everything that has been happening PERFECTLY. My truck came with an aftermarket Edelbrock carb... and yep! The only issue with it I've had is exactly what you mentioned toward the end! If I stop somewhere after I just started it... there is a good chance I have to fight it to start up when I get back in. But every morning it fires right up like a champ. This has been really really frustrating but now I know why! Thanks so much and keep these videos going, they are so helpful to us younger guys that grew up with nothing but EFI.
Remember back in the day late 60s-70s.. you could smell that one car in the neighborhood that ran so rich it would come through the screen door and burn your eyes and nose.
Manual choke is the way to go
"That's what she said " - Michael Scott. Dunder Mifflin Paper Co.
EFI is the way to go.
@@PistonAvatarGuy not necessarily. Most guys who don't like carbs, don't understand them.
@@erikturner5073 It's not like they're complicated, they're just a sloppy, cantankerous way to deliver fuel.
@@PistonAvatarGuy today's carbs are well designed and work well. Carbureted hotrods work and are not necessarily sloppy. Spending ridiculous money on a fuel system, other EFI parts, and spend many hours tuning and data logging isn't for everyone either.
Even this old guy (me) enjoyed your teaching. Carter and Rochester carbs for $5 -10 at the junk yard in 1970s were fun.
Wow this video brought back so many memories of headaches running carbs. Everything you say is spot on!
I bought an 84' AMC Eagle about 6 months ago and have barely been able to drive it because of that exact reason you explain with the choke pull off.I was born in 91',I know EFI and newer tech so It's back to the basics for me
Your a national treasure uncle Tommy. Great to hear you explain things. Even when i already know it.
Love the carb videos tony, recently threw the throttle body system off my 90s Silverado for a Edelbrock, couldn’t be happier
Uncle Tony, please. Just teach us on your favorite carburetor and what you found has worked best for you.
I've used the electric choke on my Carter and Edelbrock carbs for years and they worked great after you adjust the spring tension.
Yeah, if you live where the weather stays about the same all year round, they work well, but around here we go from 110+ in the summer to 0 and below during the winter. I found that I had to readjust edelbrock's in particular every spring and every fall, but if I adjusted them on a cold winter day to where the spring just barely holds the choke closed, they usually did ok during the summer, I'd just have to pump them a couple of times.
@@livewire2759 that's what I do with edelbrock and I dont have any issues, just a couple of pumps b4 I start and she takes off.
Of course I live in south Carolina and our weather isnt that extreme.
I love these videos to get my mechanical fix while stuck in my college dorm. Keep em coming Uncle Tony!
I just found this channel a few days ago and it is now my favorite on TH-cam.
This has been the most helpful video I've seen relating to carburetor/choke problems!
Very informative UT. I love how you teach the youngsters on our era. Keep it up brother.
I hope you and Uncle Kathy are completely safe from those tornadoes I just read about. I look forward to, and learn from each new video. Thank you and God Bless.
I was always told that auto-chokes were no good, but I never understood why - thanks for the explanation! We have a Holley on the 318, not sure how that is set but at least I feel confidant to go take a look and have a semi-knowledgeable conversation with hubby about it lol, and my own build has a Weber that I'm converting to manual choke. I know a lot of adverts push towards EFI, but at MY level of understanding, I'm going back to basics and taking it from there, and I am getting so much good information here, I love it! :)
You brought back a lot of memories. I used to do a lot of carb work-rebuilds. Some carbs had to pull offs to adjust. I can remember doing the initial startup after a rebuild adjusting the choke pull off and high speed idle and kick down solenoid fun days. I have to vehicles and one has a manual choke the other has the holly carb original equipment ford factory 4 barrel but I plan on converting it to manual operation in the future when I go through the motor.
Your videos make me really miss an old, beat up '55 Studebaker Commander I had in high school. Big cast iron V8, 3 on the Tree, two barrel carb. Coolest kid at my high school for 08 and 09. Sold it to a restorer when I needed money for college. Really wish I kept it. That car taught me so much about how to work on cars. Including carb tuning and that dang auto choke.
I've just pulled the choke off completely and feathered it, kind of sucked during winter but other than that it stayed at a idle no problem. Very educational video thanks Tony.
thanks tony ! i am new in the carb system on vehicle. im glad you did this video to introduce people. Very cool guy !
been watching your videos for a while now, i must say this video in particular was really helpful in understanding why my carbed car is a pig to start cold, your videos in general are great for me to just have a better understanding of the older systems, even though im from the uk the systems are almost the same all be it smaller carbs haha
I know Uncle Tony is talking to thousands. It always seems like he's speaking directly to me though. Rare skill that cannot be taught.
Tony, These vids are Great...You are a Treasure to the Community..TY
love your channel. old engine builder from down under.slowly but surely resurrecting my 66 charger .383 orig car,going back together with 440 cranked 400.liked your video about back dressing your slant6 intake valves,have done something similar back home with a die grinder with a small emery flap wheel ,puts a nice swirl pattern on the under side of the valve.when you did your demo,ya nicked close to the stem with your file,if left like that,might drop a valve.that just stuck in my head.like i said before,love ya channel,always look forward to your vids!
Good stuff!!! Definitely had my share. That was way back when there was still a service known as a tune-up.Wow that's old! Almost going back as far as Dave at the Old Steam Powered Machine Shop. Well, maybe not that far. Kids, pay attention to Uncle Tony. You're never too young to learn old stuff.
Just thinkin. Uncle Tony, if you want, you can take the tagline of my last comment and use it on some kind of decent swag. Maybe get a little something going to help Lambchop with the expenses that crop up with his type of treatment. I made it up as I was writing so it's ok to use. The '...never too young to learn old stuff' fund or something. Yours if you want it. To Uncle Tony from Uncle Mike. L8r.
I remember my 2nd vehicle was a carborated 2.0L ford with an auto choke, it would run differently everytime you started it. Go into town it would run alright, get back in it would run so so, sometimes it ran great and others it would spit and chough, we switched it to manual choke cable and things got significantly more consistent. Good vid, its truer than most would believe.
Thanks for knowing as much as you do. I figured out how to make an Edelbrock electric choke work functionally. I ran with it disconnected for a while which has its own problems. I figured after your explanation, just put a switch for the choke in the vehicle. If you don't need it, turn it off. Interesting that it doesn't have its own pull off but thanks for the insight. The choke plagued me when I had it running and I don't like incomplete systems in my truck so this is now on my list of things to make driving this thing a bit better.
This video is so informative, nobody does it better!
I thought I might be having heatsoak problems but this makes so much sense for my hot start problem. Thanks!
I always enjoy coming to get a tidbit of knowledge to pass on to my children from you… Before reminding you that it is within your power to stop smoking. I love what you are doing for the automotive community and hope you were able to do it longer by conquering a difficult challenge for you and me and everyone. Do it when you’re ready. I hope it is soon.
Thank you for this. I used to drive a 1969 Ford F250 4x4, with a manual choke. I loved it. I could make it start in any temperature. The coldest, -50 C ( -58 F) and believe it or not, it started right up, without being plugged in. that 360 was a beast. I had to hold the clutch for 5 minutes or it would immediately stall. My Wildcat, automatic choke. It seems to work great, goes to high idle, about 1200 RPM until the COLD light goes out.
Cool video! I never really understood why automatic chokes came to be. The manual ones always worked just fine for me.
I would use a UTG squirt bottle......if I had one. Hint Hint ;)
Thanks for posting Uncle Tony!
You missed the giveaway on the live chat
I just spent about $700.00 on my sbc with a 600cfm. The motor would crank & run beautifully, but when I drove it, the low end power just disappeared one day and the motor backfired. I was incredulous. That happened 2 months ago. I've gone through 2 mechanics & 500 TH-cam videos. After watching this video I went outside & checked my carburetor... it was particularly choked...smh The lever inside my truck wasn't adjusted or able to unchoke the carb. Thank your Sir... you saved my 1972 Chevy truck.
That helps a lot! Partially explains some of the start up issues I see with my ‘77 M880. Pretty cool how all these mechanical and vacuum systems work vs computer FI.
Thank you, UTG. I had decided to use my foot as the "choke adjuster" a long time ago, getting rid of the electric unit, while it warms up. Manual add "on the list".
I just rebuilt my Holley 4160 today, this was perfect timing. The choke isnt functional at the moment but has the mechanicals for it, I have it locked open but will probably hook the manual pull cable up to it. UTG videos are like crack to a wannabe hotrodder!!!
Hey Uncle Tony, I’m with you I just have it disconnected. Although it can get can cold here in Australia it’s never that bad that you actually need the choke. Cheers😊
Last time I drove a carbureted vehicle, it was a 1978 Chevy C1500 long bed pickup with a stovebolt 6 and three-on-the-tree manual. The guy had taken great mechanical care of that old truck, I pumped the gas twice as instructed, and the engine barely turned maybe 3 revolutions and started right up from dead cold (65F ish degree day) and was amazing to drive. That was a great example of the auto choke working perfect.... My neighbor just got a 1980s Ford F150 recently, and I think he is having choke issues because the truck acts dumb till it is warmed up. This all said, I prefer manual chokes. You know for sure if they are on or off, and if something goes wrong, MUCH easier to check for the reason.
Lots of good information as usual Tony. Definitely am a choke cable guy myself.
Perfect video - perfect lead picture!
Chokes are THE NUMBER ONE pain in the ass with carbs.
I've been lucky, a good many of my automatic choked cars worked like they should or close enough they weren't a problem.....
But some of those bastards got replaced with a mechanical choke, or ripped out, choke plates and all.
I never had a carb related "no start" even at -20° with no choke, I can't say my EFI cars did as well.
Below a given temperature, the ECM says "fuck it" and goes dead rich, and 8 injectors do a much better job of flooding an engine than ANY carb.
Problem solved! Thank you so much! Nobody could seem to answer my question about the choke pull off. My old school chevy has been chugging and loading up when it's cold and couldn't figure out why for years! Thought it was the bimetal spring but my old quadrajet has that pull off. Once I fix that she should run a lot better. And yes, I have a terrible soot problem. I hope once that's fixed that soot will blow out. I might partially plug one side of my dual exhaust to try to clear the intake crossover.
This is extremely helpful. Thank you as always.
My first car was an old vw. I had a great book on vw's in which the author swore auto chokes were a conspiracy by manufacturers to shorten engine life. His first suggested carb adjustment was to disable an auto chokes and just let the car warm up for a few minutes.
i have heard the same! i had a 1972 mustang 351c 2bbl it had the choke wired open and it started up like efi! that engine has all the original stuff but the common tune up stuff! so from that point i had never had a choke. i remove them! yes you have to let them warm up but it is not a problem. using a clutch fan helps. i have let people start my other rigs and thy are used to the 1-2 second dely efi has and ended up grinding the starter as i lit off so fast! it all so wold out do efi in fuel economy to!
Do as God intended 😂.
After watching your channel for a while I've begun to marvel at the complexity of the systems that developed, all so we wouldn't have to manually choke it anymore. How ironic that the failure of this complexity lead to the bone yard. And the addition of complexity has only compounded in recent years.
Thanks for the great info
Uncle Tony!
Lol I’m glad you mentioned that! Every single edlebrock carb I put on my V8’s I used a manual choke to deal with the bad automatic system. Finally got tired of it and went with a sniper efi.
Thanks Uncle Tony! Takes me back to my early days as a mechanic unplugging hot air crossovers on our fleet of early Dodge vans with carbed 318s in them. Lost science now!
Hey Tony , I’m 62 years old and only last fall bought my very first EFI 1990 Scottsdale 1500 with 129.000 American miles on it . Have only ever run q-jets since the seventies. My dd work truck with Ht383 crate has two block heaters and two hot air snorkels ( junkyard parts but looks factory with all vacuum doodads working ) drawing hot air off two ram horn manifolds . Here in northern Canada i often start it at 20 minus Celsius. Two pumps and it idles at 600 rpm no stumbles and NO fast idle either. Thanks to the block heaters, with out them I’d be screwed. I love the sound of these cold starts . Something sexy about them , just like old ww2 airplane motors, minus the blue smoke. Putters some and the after 20 seconds levels of to a nice even idle. An honest sound. In the summer I run an open air filter and love the sound of secondaries in sync with a raspy x pipe. Lotsa pretty girls turn their heads to see where that sweet music comes from only to see my dd 1ton . Love your show .
When I first got into the trade in 90 I changed more Rochester quadrajet choke pull offs than any other
I have a quady on a 308 holden v8. Runs rich but smooth. Not sure if it's the carby or maybe the manifold valve that uncle Tony mentioned.
Those pesky quadrajet carbs were the worst to adjust pain in the azz. Lol
The first carburetor I ever rebuilt was on an 86 Cutlass Supreme. The mechanic I was working with slid it across the work bench and said you do it. You won’t ever understand them if you don’t repair them. Another overlooked part it a worn throttle shaft. Definitely a spot for a vacuum leak causing an erratic idle
@@pacman3908 and it's a quady with the adjustments blanked off too
My dads 73 Eldorado used to have an issue with it, made a black ring on the ground every time it started😂
I learned how to adjust the choke and the pulloff on my Thermo Quads and the lil 2 bbl Carter most of my cars had at first. IF you get it right they'll start right up after one quick pump to set the choke and get a shot of gas in to prime it. My Dart would start on one pump with the 9800 series electric choke TQ, same with sisters Scamp. If it took longer than 3 cranks something was wrong or it was flooded. It is a black art and I grew to understand all the interrelated adjustments on the TQ and the bbd carbs. Most folks didn't have a clue so it either worked or they fought their cars in cold weather. There are measurements and adjustments in the true manuals for them that will get it close enough to work as long as the carb is already jetted close for the engine and you can fine tune from there.
I bought a 78 318 200 van and I had to set the choke and pull off for it once I got it home and I hadn't had to touch one in years but knowing what a 318 typically likes I got it right fairly quickly. Once they are right you shouldn't have to touch them again till something breaks or wears out. I even have a TQ strip kit and for a AVS and The AFB though if you kept all the parts the same you could use parts from either kit. Mopars usually used the 3 step metering rods and everyone else used 2 step and the matching jets from the factory. My Dart tested better emissions wise than many new cars in the early 80s after I fine tuned the 383 AVS I originally used before I swapped to the 9800 TQ I bought at a swap meet for 2 bucks and rebuilt. I ran that one for probably 15 years before I finally had to rebuild it again.
I got my choke tuned to perfection( manual) .... it’s held open with a spring lol. It’s a fair weather cruiser stored in a heated garage so I don’t really need it. Great information tho tony looking forward to more . Thanks.
Thanks Uncle Tony , another good one ....
Growing up, my mom's 68 Newport with a 383 - 2bbl would have starting issues on really cold mornings. We always kept a screwdriver in the car, which I would grab and stick down the carb just to keep that butterfly from closing up completely while mom cranked it and got it running. Now I start my truck with my cell phone... ah the good old days!!
badcactus72 Sounds like the choke pull off was set incorrectly or inoperative. Cool car, btw.
Here in Ontario Canada all the cars my dad owned got manual choke. He never liked relying on the factory garbage. He also used to have marks on distributor cap summer and winter. Made super easy to get the tune in range with the changing seasons.
My 78' Holden Kingswood (here in Australia) has a Stromberg BX carburretor with a manual choke straight from the factory and I love it. The automatic chokes don't seem worth the hassle! Also the BX is a very simple carburettor, so I like it too- even if it's only a single barrel. Gets the job done for my straight 6 engine.
Had enough of chokes just pump the gas pedal couple times and hold idle around 1500 rpm couple minutes! Done ✅
Can totally relate to that one...my hemi...cold...pumped the throttle 8x...she lit right up....hot....don't touch it 'cause a flooded hemi is a bitch to start....
Good grief, what a long list of things to go wrong! Have manual chokes on all of my Webers, and I have never even used it. Just pump the pedal, and she starts.
Thanks UT for another illuminating video.
I concur UT!
I have an edelbrock 500 AVS on my mild 318 with a manual choke. I used to use the choke but once it was tuned properly I found it didn’t need the choke at all!
Also my edelbrock suffered from the dreaded edelbog when hitting the secondary’s. I read somewhere that the choke flap can hinder this so one day while tinkering I took the choke flap off completely and to my surprise it really did get rid of most of the bog that was there! Still bogs a bit but I believe that’s largely due to my diff ratio of 2.92. I was impressed as it was an easy fix.
Ooo interested in the part throttle stuff coming up.
I love these explanations.
Thanx tony
Well I learned something from this.... I had no idea what that crossover was for ! I knew it was there just didn't know why ! Very cool too find out ! Thank you 😎
Uncle Tony I am surprised those "Roadkill" boys over at Motortrend haven't pick you up yet for a show. Id watch it. Great videos, always love learning about this stuff. Keep on my man you rule!
I hope everyone is alright and safe down your way Uncle Tony! That tornado looked pretty rough!
I did not realize there was a pull off inside there, a summit carb I recently played with said that hole wasn't drilled out of course I assumed it was for pulling manifold heat thru the spring. Sometimes I'll take the PVC hose and wrap it around the spring cover, just to assist in warming it up. Thanks uncle Tony, as always
I've been toying with the choke on a farm-fresh '85 K10. That was about the last year for a fully mechanical carb and bare bones ignition, but by then all the adjustment screws were blocked off or replaced by rivets. Though the worst part is finding parts that work; the bi-metallic elements don't allow rotational adjustment without assistance from a pedestal grinder, and the vacuum pull-offs are being sold for 75 flippin' dollar-roni's.
But it's ok, it's now one of the most reliable vehicles in the fleet.
In the mid/early '80's, I went off to GM 'school' to learn about the new, 'computer' cars, (remember the Citation?). One of the things GM taught us was to take the Q-jet off, turn it over and physically break open the casting, so we could get to the hidden idle air-fuel adjustment screw.
As we sat in horror, watching the teacher pound on this $1000 carb, ($3-4,000 in today's dollars), trying break out this casting, he warned us to be careful doing this, as it was easy to fuck up the carb.
At the time, some corporation was using 'a better idea' as their catch phrase in their TV commercials, and it had become a popular 'meme'. Someone in the class says, 'Now, that's what you call a better idea, and everyone laughed.' I then proceeded to gain the instant dislike of the instructor, when I asked, "Speaking of better ideas, is there any valid reason GM came up with the side mount battery, other than to sell more batteries and cables?"
He couldn't answer, and never really liked me, from that day on...
Two words sure to send shivers down Uncle Tony's spine. Bimetallic coil....
Good video on this. Factory chokes are a pain to get right and even the aftermarket ones are finicky. Usually only have one or two tries to get it right then have to let it cool off and try again.
For my 289 in my Mustang i installed a mechanical choke system from an old Willys MB. Works great !
I'm happy to say I've never had a vehicle with an automatic choke. I went straight from manual choke as a youngster to EFI in the mid '90s, skipping everything in between. Happy days. :-)
Thanks Tony! Learning so much.
Great video.
Waaay back, a friend had a manual choke in his car. It always started in the coldest Jersey winters.
Hey for a laugh, you should tell the kids about Ford's "vonderful" variable venturi carbs. 😁
I used to rebuild carbs all the time at my job. I probably rebuilt hundreds of the electronic feedback QUADRAJETs. Then my department purchased about 2 dozen 1987 Crown Vics with VV carbs. I was there when they were delivered brand new and I was the first one to drive each one. It seemed like every one of these allegedly identical cars had a distinct personality because there was so much variation in the factory settings on the carbs. Since Ford designed them to be basically tamper proof my boss decided to replace them all with Holleys.
After dealing with manual choke kits, I rigged up the bimetalic to hold the choke wide open, then use a cable hood release to close the choke, set high idle, fire it up, and see what the engine needs for less choke-depending on weather. Worked great after it was set up right!
Good video helped me understand more about the choke messing with a carburetor while it's running to figure how to adjust it is very blind
Thanks Tony another great video
I was just waiting for him to tell me to leave it open or convert to manual, thanks Uncle Tony!!
The old guy I bought a 81 C30 from has a threaded rod from the choke to the cab. I'm not changing it! Works great.
I once had a ‘62 F-85 with a 215 v8. It had a Rochester 4-bbl that was not running right. I took off the carb, installed a kit and adjusted all the settings as per the instructions. It ran flawlessly after that. The carb had an interesting feature. With a partially warm start, there was a small vacuum servo that would raise the idle a few hundred rpm. This would happen without any throttle input, and only last for about 5 seconds, then idle down to the stop screw setting. Clever idea! I loved the car... all except the tranny, a 3-speed hydromatic... not a TH! The 1-2 shift was miles apart in ratio. It would have been more fun with a 4-speed manual.
I am all for the manual choke 👌. Thanks UT
With all due respect, I will say, in my experience, that the accelerator pumps are the biggest issues...especially with the Edlebrock 4 bbl if NOT used often! May be different issues in different parts of our Great Country. I am in So Calif
Same with Motorcraft 2100/2150. Warped covers, dry gasket breaks, etc.
SoCal fuel is pretty bad on rubber parts. Try to get a pump that uses Viton as the material. Much more ethanol and solvent resistant than regular rubber or leather. Keep an eye on your lift pump too if you have a mechanical style lift pump.
The carburetor and points ignition are amazing analog systems and will work well when set up right. I like my manual choke on the 70 W200 with the 318
Appreciate this knowledge uncle Tony I’m really considering getting a sa-22c/fb Mazda rx-7 and I really wouldn’t mind working on a carb because then it’s probably a lot safer for me to tune it by ear then let’s say me learning how to tune on a stand-alone ecu, I really like the simplicity
I still run the coveted Rochester 850 non tps! What a gem.
The heat riser flap on my 78 460 has a small brass actuator that reacts to the temperature to slowly allow the flap to bypass the riser. Good luck finding that little actuator. Mine took a dump and my truck was running with only the air coming through the heat riser instead of through the cold air from the front of the grill after warm-up. One of the best, easiest and most durable factory chokes I've ever seen is on my bride's 1962 Mercury Comet. Keep the parts lubed and it just keeps going.
Great video Tony, the thing about the carbed vehicles is all you need is a screwdriver and a pair of pliers and your golden.
I had a 68 Mercury Cyclone with the Motorcraft carb.
Started like a champ in any kind of weather. Coldest ever was -44 farenheit and no problem.
The only carbureted vehicle I ever owned was my first. It was a 1986 Toyota 2wd regular cab short bed with the 22R 4 cylinder with a 4 speed. I bought it in 1988 with 77k miles and sold it in 1993 with 194k miles. I never had a lick of trouble with the carburetor. From -15°f to 100+°f, it always started on the first try, even during the summer I couldn't afford to replace the starter, it still started on the first pop of the clutch going forward or backwards, even pushing it across a flat parking lot by myself, except when I forgot to turn the key to ON. I miss that truck 🥲 and would love to have another just like it !
I'm going to have to come back and back to these carburetor videos.
I absolutely love that roadrunner!
Thank you for this information Tony.
I have an 84 D150 with a 318. The carb is a Holley 2280 with a spring loaded choke. When the motor is cold the spring is strong and closes the choke but as the engine warms the spring weakens and a vacuum operated actuator pulls the choke open. It works pretty good.
I'm going to go check my pull off adjustment. Thanks, buddy.
Loved this video, I forgot all abt the heat riser in exhaust in older cars .lol