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Manual vs Electric choke - Update "Neither says my engine builder" WTF?

Hmmmm, didn't Jeremy and I say WE don't use any chokes? Granted, we don't drive them in the dead of winter, but April, May, September and October get plenty cold. My car has been sitting since late October and I know it would fire right up, once the fuel gets there.
 
I have to run a choke on my car because it gets driven daily (well, it did). And it does get cold in CA. It gets down to 28F on occasion down here on the coast, and 32-40 regular enough. That's plenty cold enough to need a choke to keep my motor (which has a good lope before the oil thins out and the Rhoads lifters start working) running in the morning. I also need to get out and de-ice or squeegee the windows fairly often while the car warms up. Can't do that if the choke high-idle isn't engaged to keep the motor from stalling out. And forget driving it before it warms up.

Not saying you'll need all of these things for the intended use of the vehicle, but chokes are important for cars that get driven often, no matter the climate. And all you non-CA folks need to spend a night outside my apartment and tell me it's not cold:p
 
You Cali folks are kill'n me.....28* is NOT cold, that's still sweatshirt weather :lol :lol :lol
 
Tad does bring up a valid issue being that he is using his car daily. I will be lucky if I use Shag once a week or two weeks. Thus no chokie for this pup. I actually hated the idea of running a hard cable to the carb anyways.
 
"silverblueBP" said:
You Cali folks are kill'n me.....28* is NOT cold, that's still sweatshirt weather :lol :lol :lol
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Hey now, anytime I gotta put on more than my usual 'shorts and T-shirt' it's cold.
 
Re: Manual vs Electric choke

"cmayna" said:
John,
Guess what? A couple days ago I was at my engine builder's place to drop off the Holley he was going to rebuild and.....

...

So, it looks like I'm starting out with no choke. This should be very interesting.
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Is he going to mill the choke horn off? The horn itself is the biggest culprit that disrupts air flow. That's not to say that you'd have a dog by keeping the air horn.

I kept the air horn on mine until 2 years ago, when the carb started crapping out on me at Hot August Nights. Not having a decent place to rebuild my current one, I went to the Big Boy's Toy Store, and bought the one that I had wanted all along that has no choke horn. My dyno pull with the 354 RWHP and 416 ft. lbs. of torque still had the air horn on it. I figure my new carb and the tuning I've done has hopefully sent me a little north of those numbers.
 
"cmayna" said:
John,
Guess what? A couple days ago I was at my engine builder's place to drop off the Holley he was going to rebuild and.....

I said "BTW, I'm going manual choke"

He said "No you're not"

I said "huh? You want me to go electric"

He snickered and said "No, as in no choke at all. Where the hell do you think you're living in? The mid western states? None of my motors get a choke. You won't need it. You want to impede the performance of that motor or something? Here, let me fire up my Camaro which has been sitting for 3-4 days and show you how to do it. Your car infact will warm up much easier than my Camaro since it has a less radical cam."

Tonight I was over at another friends place who originally turned me onto this engine builder and I asked him about this issue. "Yep, most of the motors I install and 100% of Dave's (my engine builder) motors run with no choke."

So, it looks like I'm starting out with no choke. This should be very interesting.
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When i was reading your topic i was thinking the same as your engine builder said.
I remenber you said you have 2 seasons , spring and summer.
So , i don't think you need a choke too.
 
I don't ran a choke at all. I removed it but have not milled the horn yet. The engine starts up fine. I just have to warm it up for a few minutes before I start driving it.
 
Before going to efi, it had been a long, long time since I ran a choke. The last time I ran a choke, it was an electric choke on my holley. And I found out that the wire that I had tapped into to operate the choke was unfused. Driving one day the wire came off the choke housing and grounded out on the intake. The inside of the car filled up with smoke as the insulation was burnt off the wire. Got the car home found the problem, dropped a few :fbomb and then yanked the choke off and never run one since.

-rob
 
I'm running an electric choke on my holley with no issues. I starts and runs in the cold (like a Holley) and just fine when warm too. I'm used to living in the North and no choke meant hard starting and driving with two feet to keep it running until warm. We get down around freezing here in KY and the choke and fast idle are nice to have.
 
To clarify, all you guys who have no choke, are you saying the linkage is disconnected and the choke is left open all the time, or the actual choke plate is removed altogether?

Is there an objective answer as to how low of a temperature is acceptable to easily start the engine at with no choke?
 
"sigtauenus" said:
To clarify, all you guys who have no choke, are you saying the linkage is disconnected and the choke is left open all the time, or the actual choke plate is removed altogether?

Is there an objective answer as to how low of a temperature is acceptable to easily start the engine at with no choke?
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Chokes are for convenience. There's nothing mandatory about them in any weather, but you won't want to start driving it until it IS warmed up in cold weather.

My carb has no choke housing whatsoever, so also has no linkages. Before I went to this carb, I removed all the linkage and the choke valve. It didn't work right anyway (carb was a Holley DP that I bought off ebay and rebuilt everything but the choke).
 
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