I have a 386 that has a big cam and Al. heads. I have not once needed to use the choke so I just want to remove it now. What is the easiest way to do this? I took off all the linkage stuff, now I wanna get the flap off. I see that it has three dimples that prevent it from moving on the shaft. Is it best to flatten these somehow? Or should I just take the carb off the car and cut the shaft in half? Thanks for the advice.

And yes I am 100% sure I don't need it anymore. Thanks again.

 

You may have to tell us what carb this is.

Although i'd recommend you leave it on. Your choke kicks in when the car is "cold", ie, not "warm" (180*F), so at normal temperature of 70*F your choke is necessary. It's not like your choke only works in the winter when it's below freezing. Well, necessary unless you just leave your idle speed abnormally high, or you hold your foot on the gas to keep it running everytime you start it cold.

 

if it's above 50-60 degrees outside it's never needed regardless IMO. give it 30 seconds to build slight heat in the chamber and drive off. The "proper" way is to take a hacksaw and cut off the entire choke tower then smooth it out with an air grinder

 

yeah, even when it has been super cold my car just straight up wont start with the choke. Period. Holly 750 DP right outta the box. Got it dyno tunned so the shop played with all the jets and so on, and still when it is cold, and I try and use the choke, she not once has started with the choke even a tad closed. I just rev it for around 30 seconds up to 1200 and a couple more little jumps and drive off. Thats all. So I just don't see the point. I have it wired up (mechanically) and I just wanna get rid of the *** and the obstructions if I am never going to use it. When I was finishing the mechanical part of the car, last winter it still didn't want the choke. I dunno whats up with that. Anyways, thanks for the advice xpndbl3, as usual. I will pull the carb, and cut it off. Then maybe on a lazy sunday I will hack off the tower too.

Hey xpndbl3, I know you know more about carbs than me. I am running a 1" spacer and a N20 plate. I wanna see how the car runs without the plate, do you have any recomended starting points for new jetting after I pull the spacer? Do you think it will make more or less power? I know that last question is pretty much not answerable, but if you have any insight that would be great. Thanks.

-Dennis

 

Well i'll be damned, that's kinda strange. It'll start better without the choke then with it eh? Huh, learn something new every day.

 

can't really say whether or not the spacer was a 4 hole or an open spacer, but without a wideband to set up the carb, I can't tell you whether to jet up or down. Make a pass and check the plugs after shutting it off on the big end at WOT. Typically a spacer needs more jetting, but that might not be the case, so the motor IMO would be rich without it. The reason that carb might not run right with the choke is due to a too rich of an idle circuit already. What my motor made the best vacuum at idle was actually 11.5:1 A/F ratio at idle on a warm motor, we bumped it to 13:1 A/F ratio and now it takes a little bit to run on its own first thing, but after starting it and driving I have no issues for the rest of the day at the track/car show etc. I can't imagine tuning a carb again without the innovative LM-1 wideband as it was so clear cut and scientific in it's reading compared to trying to read plugs which get a brown coloring regardless due to the ethanol content in the chicago area. Took under 2 hours and the car idles cleaner now, and is easier to drive around without burning my eyes at a stoplight. I need to redo all of mine since the solid cam is eating itself in my car but I'll have to pick a boost friendly one since TT is going on in the fall/winter My current combo got boring I guess, and since the rear and trans will handle a ton more power I want to try it out. heh. Any other questions let me know.

 

I actually have an LM-1 in the car permanently wired in so whenever I cam driving I can see how I am doing. Thats why I say the things I say. Maybe it is true that my idle circuit is too rich. I don't have any explanation as to why the car will just 100% not start with the choke. Also when I first turn it on, she runs a bit lean, but after about a minute, on a nice day, she is right around 14.7. And under throttle 12.5. Those are the #s I was told to tune for by a friend with a 1000+ HP chevelle, so I trust him. But for some odd reason it still hurts my eyes at a red light. Not sure what is going on. Since I don't run cats, and have low clearance, I installed my wideband pretty far back in the pipes. But the instructions explicitly say that it is OK if you have no cats. I am confident the readings are good, plus I had the carb tunned by a dyno shop when it was getting dyno tunned. You guys think maybe they did a bad job? I have only herd good things about this shop. Is it even possible to SMELL rich but have the wideband show 14.7????

Maybe I should buy a new O2 or something....

 

I run my car at 13.5:1 or so on the idle circuit with the motor fully warmed up, part throttle I was shooting for upper 13s, lower 14s, and WOT for 12.5-13.1:1 for max HP. Do you calibrate the wideband before using it when tuning? I know it took an extra minute for us but then I was sure that the readings would be realistic.

 

I will re-calib. this weekend and try to re-tune. Then go from there.

 

This is a great way to eliminate the choke. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

Not bad. You get the ability to tune the air bleeds too! $130, seems a bit high but not high enough to make it outta the question. I will pass the idea by my local car guy expert. He had a proform in his chevelle and now went with quick fuel. He seems to allwasy know best.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

proform is quick fuel....same mainbody and metering blocks.

 

oh, i guess i am a little confused. either way he told me to stick with my holly 750 DP, since i just run on the street. I would see no real benefit in those carbs.

 

I removed the choke on my 4777 double pumper. I side-stepped the 'wont run cold' thing by using Holley's "A/C throttle kicker" solenoid and bracket. Basically, its a solenoid on a switch that 'kicks' the idle speed up when you want to. How much it goes up can be adjusted. I have all the parts for this, but haven't tested it yet.

 

Heres the basic idea, all assembled. This was before the choke horn was removed, and the carb cleaned and rebuilt. Yes, it is a ProForm billet base.

Pic:

 

thats a tight setup, if only the solenoid wasn't about 80 bucks. i'm a cheap bastard sometimes.

 

So you are going to use that little solenoid to have the car idle a bit higher while it warms up, then flick a switch off or something.

Isn't that the same as just sitting there with your foot on the gas for a bit?

Sorry if I am totally off base. Still learning...

 

same as your foot on it, except you wouldn't need your foot on it

 

Winner!!