Need some schooling from the Q-jet gods

[mudbog42]

Ok well I am having a problem with hot starts on my sbc 350 and have narrowed it down to the choke. It does not open all the way when the motor is hot and the only way I get it started is by putting gas in the carb and flooring the pedal

I called Recarbco because I got the carb from them about 2 months ago and they said it has a remote choke on it and there should be something connected to it from the passenger side of the manifold (and something about a manifold crossover...don't know what that is...) but I don't see anything that would hook up to it so I took some pictures hoping somebody could help me out


Shot with KODAK Z730 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA at 2007-08-11


Shot with KODAK Z730 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA at 2007-08-11

 

[Muddytazz]

In your top picture, that rectangular metal plate with the metal line coming out of it that goes to nowhere, that is where the remote choke spring is suppose to be.

 

[doonjumper]

The intake should have a coil spring that attaches to the intake manifold where you have that metal plate that leads to nowhere. It operates by engine temp and when it gets hot the spring coil opens your choke , THATS WHY IT IS MANUL CHOKE. As far as the cross over I do beleive that it is what you have plugged off. It is the metal tube that is comining out from the middle of the intake. Srry for caps I am is a rush and dont have time to retype. I am no carb God for the record...You can bypass that style of choke and put and "in cab" pull style manul choke setup. They are cheap and easy to install. Just drill a hole in your dash that is easyily acessible and then route it through your passenger firewall with no kinks or bends and connect it to your carb. It is a cable set-up.

 

[dremu]

I'm no QJet god, but you have the wrong kind of intake for that carb, or the wrong carb for that intake.

The intake is set up for a hot air choke ... to wit:

And your carb is set up for a divorced choke, which should have the little coil sitting on top of the metal plate that has the pipe in it right now.

You could convert to the divorced choke easy enough; get you a choke plate, bolt it in place of that pipe-plate, and then hang a rod from it:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=EDL-8901&N=700+115&autoview=sku

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=EDL%2D1931&N=700+115&autoview=sku

Or you can do the throttle cable thing ... but the karmatically *correct* way is to do it right

-- A

 

[pauly383]

A ty-wrap works too , not like it snows much in Florida

 

[original balzer]

Wire the choke open, then time the truck realy well. Your in FL so it shouldnt get cold enough to need a choke. Besides that I live in Utah and it gets cold here and I never run a choke. I always wire them open, and use the timing and adjust the carb so that it starts even on the coldest days. I honestly dont belive in a choke on a Q-jet and a sbc. But then again I have had years of dealing with being broke and fixin it the cheapest I can, and I learned how to tinker on a q-jet. One more thing on timing, I have never seen an engine run the best on out of the book timing, they all run better just a little off of what any book calls for.

I time by ear, and heres my method: start the truck with the dizzy loose enuff to turn by hand and the vacc advance disconected. Run the engine up around 1200-1500 rpm move it slightly either direction and back then the other direction and back you should hear when it purrs. when you find the sweet spot turn the truck off. Now try starting the truck and if it fires b4 1 full revolution shut it off and tighten the clamp. if it cranks over some adjust the dizzy even less than before, until you get it to fire up on less than one revolution. This dont usualy work on F.I. engines for some reason they need to turn over a bit before they fire. Also if your feul system isnt airtight it will turn over a few times to fill the lines/carb ect. after sitting for a while.

May not work for everyone but it works for me.

Balzer

 

[Blue85]

Do what Dremu is telling you. Make it work right and you will be happier in the end. Plus, this is much easier than getting a new carb or intake. It's even easier to install than a manual choke cable (which belongs on a lawnmower, BTW).

 

[doonjumper]

Do what Dremu is telling you. Make it work right and you will be happier in the end. Plus, this is much easier than getting a new carb or intake. It's even easier to install than a manual choke cable (which belongs on a lawnmower, BTW).

This is a place where people can ask questions and get ideas isn't it? Maybe not. I'm sure that you have always done things the "right" way all the days of your life.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

I would just leave the choke wide open.

I do it and it gets cold here (I just use the block heater when I need it).

 

[Kp]

Mine is doing the EXACT same thing. I put a carb spacer on, and the little arm to the spring is too short. I havent figured out if I can copy it using a coat hanger, or if I can cut it and splice in a 1 inch piece.
It does the same thing yours does tho, once its hot, you have to floor it to get it to start, and it blows a big cloud of black smoke. Once its running it runs fine, but I am not crazy about the smoke screen.

 

[vortec]

a manual choke conversion could solve you problem. i did it on mine and it makes a huge difference over depending on the old one to do its thing (or in your case, not do it's thing). it took me about 20 minutes to install and now i open and close the choke with the pull of a cable.

 

[dyeager535]

I'm far from a guru as well, but the hot air style setup on the engine is open to the exhaust crossover. Unless I'm missing something, you can't remove that setup, and it would be pretty difficult to get the correct choke style bolted down to that intake. Anything is possible, but to get a choke to work right, everything else has to be correct.

I dunno the answer, perhaps you could switch the setup over to a hot air style choke coil? Not sure which makes used it, Oldsmobile did, but not quite like that I don't believe.