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Yes, loosening the 3 screws and turning the black housing is how you adjust the choke. I don't know if anyone ever said that yet. That is the official way to adjust it. Sounds like you are very close and just need a tweak. Changing the wiring or doing something else is going to be too drastic in this case since you are so close to it being correct.
I recently learned how the electric choke on my truck worked and what adjusted what. To keep the choke closed longer, you rotate the black housing Franklin mentioned in a few degree increments each warm-up cycle. That will take you most of the day till you find the right spot since you need a cold start to gauge the effectiveness of your adjustments. The direction should be counter-clockwise but you will need to find that out for yourself. You can rotate one way or another till you notice it getting tension in a certain direction. That direction will decrease the time the choke plate is closed and the opposite will increase the time.
That is the process I went through and happy with what I ended up with. Choke in my case doesn't need to be closed for more than 3-5 min. After that, I just let leave the high idle cam where it's at till I see normal operating temp and give my throttle a kick to release the cam. If I take off down the road before my temps are in normal range, I get a miss backfire through the carb.
If I take off down the road before my temps are in normal range, I get a miss backfire through the carb.
That is what the other warm-up devices on the engine are for. The air diverter in the aircleaner snorkel to draw warm air up from around the exhaust manifold, and the heat riser valve in one of the exhaust manifold outlets which forces exhaust gas up under the carb to help it warm up faster. I have found usually just one of these working, and the choke, is all you need to make it trouble free. But each engine seems to be a little different.
Mine being a very tired 460... PO had an open air element that is still in place and then there are headers installed that don't have the piece of metal the chimney can attach to. I have two spare air cleaners I plan to graft into a dual snorkel when the time comes and let cool fresh air into the engine during the hotter months.
Sorry ... have not adjusted the choke yet ..... work got in the way (emergency worked till 3 AM on a project).
Anyway ... you guys got me thinking .....
I still have not got an answer but I am thinking this carb may have a true ford electric choke. I thought I had an e-mail from the manufacturer but when I looked back it was from another purchaser who used 12 volts.
It is listed for 1965 to 1985 ... I am using it on a 1986.
It looks like from my notes that in 86 they changed to an alternator with an internal regulator.
I do see a white wire with a black stripe coming out of the harness to a plug (not used).
What should the ohm's reading be on a choke? Cold I then tell if it meant for 12 or 7 volts (I think the 7 volts may be an AC reading)?
I am reading 5 ohms on mine.
At 12 volts that is 30 Watts ... 2 1/2 amps ... seems high ?????
Obviously at 7 volts it is only about half.
I searched everywhere but could not find out how many ohms, watts or amps the choke should draw.
I have an Edelbrock carb and it's 12v right off the alternator. Everything on the truck is a 12v system. You could be reading voltage on AC rather than DC. Granted, a lower voltage will cause the coil in the housing to heat up slower thus keeping your choke plate closed longer. But that is where rotating the housing comes into play,
Are you worried about "burning out" your electric choke or that is why you feel your choke plate opening too fast?
Sorry ... have not adjusted the choke yet ..... work got in the way (emergency worked till 3 AM on a project).
Anyway ... you guys got me thinking .....
I still have not got an answer but I am thinking this carb may have a true ford electric choke. I thought I had an e-mail from the manufacturer but when I looked back it was from another purchaser who used 12 volts.
It is listed for 1965 to 1985 ... I am using it on a 1986.
It looks like from my notes that in 86 they changed to an alternator with an internal regulator.
I do see a white wire with a black stripe coming out of the harness to a plug (not used).
What should the ohm's reading be on a choke? Cold I then tell if it meant for 12 or 7 volts (I think the 7 volts may be an AC reading)?
I am reading 5 ohms on mine.
At 12 volts that is 30 Watts ... 2 1/2 amps ... seems high ?????
Obviously at 7 volts it is only about half.
I searched everywhere but could not find out how many ohms, watts or amps the choke should draw.
Thanks .... Mike
Does your carb have a fitting like the brass one in the picture below? If it does, I think you have something to worry about, that is the hot air connection and you have a 7v assist setup, not a full electric choke. Unless the aftermarket people changed it all around. If you have that fitting, it should be sucking vacuum when you run the engine.
Hmmmm ... it does have a tapped hole but no fitting.
Below is a picture of the carb.
One problem is this carb is a Chinese import with no real data ... the seller has not gotten back to me. Going by the buyers comments on Amazon, many do not use the heat tube ... they just use the electric choke.
I think I have tomorrow off ...;put out all the fires ... I will start the truck and take a voltage reading on the white/black wire.
If it reads 7 volts or so (rather than 13.6), I might just try it. From my quick calculations, that should make it a 10 watt heater rather than 37 watts (E=IR ... VA=W)
I am always amazed how complicated I can make simple questions
If the tapped opening, shown in your photo, is open to the air, cool [ambient] air is being drawn into the choke heater housing, rather than heated air. This will delay the opening of the choke plate. Also, the air being drawn in is not filtered. The original design is for filtered air to be drawn from the larger port at the top of the carburetor [throat] and passed through tubing which goes to the exhaust manifold to be heated. That heated air passes through another tube which is insulated and enters the tapped opening.
A filter makes sense ... I might even have a sintered metal one from one of my air tools laying around (I know they are meant for exhaust but I have used them on the free need port of an air cylinder as a filter).
6" of snow heading it tomorrow ... heading out to try rewiring the choke.
A filter makes sense ... I might even have a sintered metal one from one of my air tools laying around (I know they are meant for exhaust but I have used them on the free need port of an air cylinder as a filter).
6" of snow heading it tomorrow ... heading out to try rewiring the choke.
I will let you guys know how I make out.
Thanks so very much again !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike
The climatic choke stove runs from the top nipple there at the carb throat. Down to the exhaust manifold and up to that threaded hole. You can wrap copper around your exhaust manifold and hook the ends up if your stoves are broken off. The choke will never operate right without it. The element in the choke cap is just to pull the choke off faster for emissions. Unless it has a fully electric choke, but that doesn't make sense considering the carb that one is modeled after. Then again, cheap aftermarket, anything is possible. But if you don't want to put the heat stove back into play then screw in a barb, plumb it to that nipple and it'll be drawing the same filtered air the engine is.
OK ... 32 outside today .... 6 will be the high on Friday ... and 6-12" of snow tomorrow.
So .... I did check the wire from the alternator .... 7.5 volts AC (checked with a "real" RMS meter)
Electric heaters work on AC or DC ... so I did in fact take a wire from there to the choke ... this should have slowed down motion.
It probably did but the choke still pulls off way too fast.
Then I marked the housing and turned the choke a small amount ....
It looks like it will work but I need to wait till it cools again to try it.
My only worry is that the choke plate seems to close more than it did before. I am worried if it closes too much I will flood the engine before it starts.
Is there any way of adjusting the choke plate with independently of the choke .... or will it not matter if it closes all the way since it pulls open as soon as then engine starts with the vacuum motor?
The choke is fully shut when cold. The choke pull-off, choke qualifier, or unloader, whatever you want to call it, cracks the choke open a set amount when the engine starts. It works on vacuum. I can't see it in your picture above, it might be around behind the carb.
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