Pretty cold here last nite and I woke up this morn ing to a dusting of snow (yeah, California is NOT all sunshine) which sorta put a damper on my plans of pulling the wagon into the garage and doing alittle work on it today .... she just plain doesnt start in cold weather. The reason she doesnt start lies all on me, you see I gutted the electric choke and choke plates thinking WTF why do I need all this stuff, my carb should "breathe" better without it (the choke). So my question, is there a trick of technique I havent heard of in my sixty years on this earth to get a start on a car without relying on the choke ? I still am not totally convinced running my car without one isnt a bad idea.
'Bout all I can say is get everything as dialed in as you can. I have driven the Plymouth about 200,000 miles all over country with out a choke year round and never had the need of one. A couple of pumps on the gas and hit the button and she's runnin'. You might take a look at where your timing is both initial and full advance and see if it's advanced a bit far to spin quickly. Also check your pump shot at the carb and see that it's there and happy, too.
The choke makes the carb run very rich for a while, until it gets up to beginning of operating temp. So any other method that would do the same would work. Hit the nitrous button but leave the NO2 tank valve shut, so the wet plate gives it an extra shot of gas... yeah just joking, but it would probably work. On an old farm truck, no choke, we started it with starter fluid and then cupped our gloved hands over the carb while cranking, it restricted the air but not the gas, worked as a choke. 5 min or so later, we could jump in and drive off. A bit of a pain, really, but it would work.
Wales is cold and wet, when I was younger I had a chokeless twin 40 Webber carbed, ot 4 cyl. car. The technique in winter was to floor the throttle a couple of times, so that the accelerator pumps could squirt extra fuel in the manifold, turn the key and floor the throttle again which would normally start the engine, a gentle touch on the throttle for a minute keeping the revs at around 1500 to 2000 to warm up the engine enough to go, you very quickly got to know when to pump the throttle when turning over to start.
Thanks yawl for the gitback .... I have never been able to find the sweet spot as far as pumping and cranking and as far as using ether (quick-start) , dang, I just dont know. I just dont feel good about that one, but yes it will work. Seems something could be made to temporarily close down the primarys ... "Cut a half-moon out of the bottom of a dog dish hubcap and drill a 1/4 inch hole in the center , place over the carb .. and start ..." LOL Maybe someone know something short of reinstalling the choke.
open the hood and give it a shot of starting fluid. or, like us oldtimers, give it a shot of gas out of a squeeze bottle. I will see PnB this week and ask him for you!
I had to move my '62 several times this winter in near zero degree weather and with a few pumps it would fire. Feather the gas a bit to keep it alive for a few minutes while it warms up and as soon as you can let your foot of the gas and it won't die your good to drive.
Why not just put a manual choke on it? Easy to install, reasonably cheap and effective, uses a better sensor and control unit than the automatics
That's easy enough to do if you still have the choke plate on the carb with enough of the linkage to hook it up. I ran a Holley without a choke hooked up for several years on the o/t rig and just gave it a couple extra pumps in the winter. The electric choke on the Edelbrock 650 on there now sure makes life a lot easier even in below 0 weather. I can't understand what a guy thinks he is gaining by removing the choke on a non racing street rig even if he lives in Cali.
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