I'd like to enable the choke on this Chevelle that my sister and I have recently inherited. Here's what I know about the car:
Non-matching numbers 396 motor
Holley intake
Edelbrock 500 (or 550) CFM Vacuum secondary carb
"Choke" **** on the dash that I believe is not connected to anything.
Roller tip rockers
It has "a cam" (idles at 1000 RPM when warm)
4 speed manual
Fun as Hell to drive

From what I can see, there is a choke flap, a bimetal spring near the intake to control it, and some missing linkage between the two. Can you tell from the pictures exactly which model of carb we have? Has it been discontinued? Can we order just the missing linkage, or would we have to order a new carb? I can load more pictures too.

Also, is 1000 RPM an appropriate idle speed? In the absence of specific camshaft profile data, is there any field method to determine best idle speed? This idle speed seems high, and there are no vacuum leaks.

 

The choke cable bracket is circled in green. The line the choke cable makes is the magenta line. You may have to find a clip of some sort to attach the inner cable to the choke lever on the carb.

 

Thanks for the help, kid, I can always count on your help. It will probably be a few weeks till I get back to the car. How does the choke cable connect to the bimetal strip? I suppose it'd make more sense to me when I can get my hands back on it.

 

They don't. You either use a manual cable to operate the choke, or link the bimetal thermostat to operate the choke automatically. I don't think you can get a link from the thermostat to the carb, based on the photos you attached. So, hook up a manual choke cable.