I couldn't get the choke to work right so i slapped a new thermostat on it. Before the choke wouldn't fully open or close. Now it will only stay fully open. There is 14+ volts to the therm when the car is running. What did I do wrong. Ambient temp is cold enough where choke should close at least some of the way.
1987 camaro w/ 350 and rochester carb

 

How did you adjust the tension of the choke coil?

 

how am I supposed to set it? I didn't know that it had to be set. I'm sure that that's the problem.

 

With the engine cold, turn the choke thermostat housing until the choke is just closed. From there you can turn it either way to shorten or lengthen the time the choke stays cold after starting.

 

Thanks man. Do I have to drill out my rivets again to do this? My thermostat will be rotated so that the wire attachment is toward the from of the car. Seems a bit extreme to me. I'll give it a shot though.

 

Did you rivet the new one in? Normally when you replace the choke, you drill the rivets out and tap the holes for screws.

 

Yep, riveted it in. What size tap and screws would you suggest? 1/8?

 

Whatever fits the rivet holes.

 

ok, that wasn't too helpful. Thanks for the rest of the advice though.

 

Just use self-tapping screws for the choke therm housing. Thats usually whats supplied with most kits, and it works just fine. Too much unnecessary hassle to tap it for a machine thread.

But yes, turn it back untill the choke blade is just barely closed with the engine not running and cold. As soon as it fires up, the airflow should suck the plate open to a gap about 1/8" or so, roughly. It will progressively open from then on as the engine warms up.

You'll also want to set the fast idle as well if its off... I usually set it to somewhere between 1300-1600 rpm cold, which usually goes up to about 2000-ish once the choke is open. Set it fast enough that it runs reasonably well as soon as its started, and is not running rough or acting like to wants to stall (it will do this if its set too low). Every engine is different, but something around 1500 rpm cold is usually a pretty good place to start.

 

I think that the fast idle will be right when I get the choke working. It was fine on the LG4. Any idea what size of self tapping screw you used? My thermostat kit came with rivets. Tapping the holes would be no problem for me provided I have a suitable tap. I've tapped a few holes in my day.

 

yeah I found a 10-24 in the toolbox. Now i just need to get my drill back from my mom's husband.

 

I'm thinking that you didn't get the choke mechanism tang engaged with the choke thermostat.

Many of these thermostats will only mount in one position (have a slot & tab to keep them in the "proper" position). An emissions pre-adjustment thing, you know. That's why the rivets were there.

 

I got the tang engaged. Like I said though, to make the choke close when cold I would have to move the electrical plug from the 6:00 position to the 3:00 position. The tang was at the 3:00 position when the choke was open. Is there any other way to adjust this? Did I break something? What's the deal?

 

The position of the plug doesn't matter too much, as long as you can get proper tension in the coil to close the choke.