the metal hose with the cloth around it. what is it for? its rusted off. can i plug it?

 

it's for the choke. it brings hot air into it

 

That is your choke stove - it supplies warm air from the intake manifold to help open the choke. The hole to the right of it should also have a metal line that connects to the bottom of the air cleaner for fresh, filtered air.

Do a search for this - there is a lot of good info.

Mark

Edit - Tina beat me to it.

 

It's called the choke stove pipe. You'll need to fix it so that your choke operates properly. Dorman sells a repair kit that you should be able to find in the HELP section of your local auto parts store.

There should be a hose running from the air filter housing, down to the stove flange. Air is pulled in through that hose, runs down into the intake to heat up, and then goes into the choke housing where it heats up a spring and opens the choke.

EDIT: ^They beat it to me.

 

yeah that makes sense because cold starts are a little hard for it and i dont think the choke ever closes. when its warm it instantly fires up. im going to fix this asap

thanks for the help!

 

The choke was most likely adjusted lean to compensate for the choke stove being inoperative.

Fix the choke stove and you should be able to richen the choke setting for cold starts without effecting hot start operations.

 

81-F-150-Explorer is likely right, but...

Just to double check (because I know your last truck has EFI), you know how to properly start a carbureted vehicle, right?

Cold start: Pump the gas pedal once (twice if it's super cold out) before starting; this allows the choke to slap closed and primes the engine. Turn the key and the engine should fire right up and idle at high idle.

Hot start needs no explanation; just like the new stuff.