interesting response and a discouraging one

[BarryK]

well, sent my carb out for a rebuild to a well recommended and respected carb rebuilder.
i've been having issues getting the choke to operate correctly. At first the choke wouldn't come on at all. I than removed the choke housing cover and made sure the tang coming from the fast idle cam lever was properly seated in the little loop of the thermo spring on the inside of the housing cover than put it back exactly as specified in the shop manual (+1 Lean position).
Great, now the choke was actually coming on when I'd go to start the car BUT now after the car warmed up it wouldn't kick back off completely. The fast idle cam lever wouldn't drop back down the last little bit to allow the car to return to a normal idle speed. By playing around with it and from advice from a few forum members plus I called the carb rebuilder about it I found out that if I turned the housing cover (also the choke lean/rich mixture adjustment) all the way to the extreme lean position it would now allow for the choke to come back off BUT with it adjusted this way it was now too lean for the choke to operate normally on start up if the car was cold. It was too lean and the car wouldn't stay running and would stall immediately after starting. It was as bad as with no choke operation at all.

i just called the carb rebuilder back again to get his advice on how to get this thing set up properly and his response to me was, QUOTE "I don't know". Than he suggested to just run it without a choke at all and "live with it".

You know, after spending good money to have a carb completely rebuilt and restored and to get a response like that is not pleasant.

we won't even get into the issue i noticed yesterday and today of the carb leaking gas on my newly cleaned up intake, especially after considering the fact that it DIDN'T leak before I sent it to him!!!!!!!!!! ad ad

you know, I started leaning how to do work on my own car because all the local mechanics were basically incompetent and screwed up everything they touched on it and once again I had something done by somebody else and it's screwed up. Doesn't ANYONE care about the quality of work they perform and about basic customer service anymore. Come on, he is suppose to be the carb expert and all he has to say is "I don't know"??

for what this thing cost to get bebuilt/restored i could have bought a dozen rebuild kit myself and done it 5 or 10 times. Even if i screwed it up the first few times I still would have been way ahead of the game.



looks like my only option is to run it as lean as possible so at least it doesn't keep the idle up higher than normal and live without a usable choke but I have to say I think that's a lousy option and i'm NOT a happy camper to say the least!

 

[Lucy64]

I had a carb problem lately also choke related. Mine is a Edelbrock 800 cfm. I took it to a local guy that has done carb work for me in the past and had it rebuilt. Got it home and bolted it on and still had the same problem. Checked the power to the elec choke and had 0 volts. After fixing that problem and getting the proper 10v that is need for the Edelbrock all is now fine. If you have elec choke check the voltage to the choke.

 

[BarryK]

nope, not an electric choke. it's a Holley 2818-1 so it's just a regular automatic choke

 

[tigernut]

......
for what this thing cost to get bebuilt/restored i could have bought a dozen rebuild kit myself and done it 5 or 10 times. Even if i screwed it up the first few times I still would have been way ahead of the game.
.....

Sorry about your troubles Barry.

Your above statement is why no one touches my car except me, I don't care how many times it takes me to get it right.

Doug

 

[gmjunkie]

Barry, Have you tryed a new Thermo Spring?? There not expensive and they do get weak!! I have to put a new one on my LS6 bout every 2 years!! But I Don't Have a Holley either!!
junk!!

 

[BarryK]

Sorry about your troubles Barry.

Your above statement is why no one touches my car except me, I don't care how many times it takes me to get it right.

Doug

yep......... this is the exact reason I stopped trying to use local mechanics and started to try and learn how to do things myself 9with the help of people on here of course).
but I figured if i sent this carb out it was one thing i wouldn't have to worry about anymore. go figure!

 

[BarryK]

Junk

i did manage to finally get him to say just that same thing, the spring is probably shot but than he also said that none of his suppliers carry it and the other ones avaialble are probably repro springs that don't work correctly either. i had that issue on my temp sender unit and had to find an old used original one to get my gauge to work correctly.

I'm inclined to believe it most likey is the spring but if a guy whose whole business is rebuilding carbs can't get a correct spring than where am i suppose to get one?

 

[gmjunkie]

I get mine at the Chevrolet Dealer!! junk!!

 

[BarryK]

Junk, a spring for a late model C3 and a C% I'm sure are a lot easier to dig up than one from a 40yo car!

i'm going to have to start searching around and see if I can dig one up and hopefully that will be the cure

 

[gmjunkie]

Junk, a spring for a late model C3 and a C% I'm sure are a lot easier to dig up than one from a 40yo car!

i'm going to have to start searching around and see if I can dig one up and hopefully that will be the cure

If you have a Good GM part's man, You'd Be surprised what he can come up with!! Is your's in the Intake under a cover or on the side of Carb?? I'll see what Jimmy can Dig up!! junk!!

 

[BarryK]

it's a Holley 2818-1 so the spring is attached to the inside of the choke housing cover on the side of the carb

 

[bossvette]

FWIW Barry back in the dark ages of carbs I could never get those mechanical chokes to work properly either. The way they are supposed to work to the best of my old memory is when cold the heat rizer (that flap thing between the exhaust manifold and the pipe) is closed and creates back pressure in the exhaust system to heat the base of the intake manifold (those little passages in the center) and the tube up to the carb which in turn heats the spring in the choke housing which opens up the choke when it warms up.

any one of those not working properly would cause you problems; being an old hot rodder I usually just put in a choke cable and controlled it manually but that is not an option for you so check the operation of your heat rizer and the tube to the choke housing.

 

[JohnZ]

Barry, I don't normally recommend Chicago Corvette (Al Fierke, MiszterCarb on eBay) for anything, but he bought almost all of Holley's inventory of OLD carburetors and parts a couple of years ago, and he probably has a replacement Holley choke spring for your 2818; worth a try, anyway.

My 1965 Holley parts manual shows it as "Thermostat Housing Assembly", which is the black bakelite housing including the spring, as a unit. It was Holley part number 47R-114A, and GM serviced it as "Coil, w/cover", Group #3.750, P/N 3867996.

 

[BarryK]

there isn't any heat riser anymore Craig. during my clean-up project I removed it and replaced it with the plain spacer unit from the fuelie cars.
I did this at the recommendation of a number of people on here and the other forum.
on the other hand, the choke had quit working properly back in Sept or Oct before i removed the heat riser anyway so i'm pretty positive the issue is in the choke system itself on the carb and it just didn't get repaired when I had the carb rebuilt.
The choke always worked perfect for me until Sept or Oct when it just stopped coming on when I would start the car cold. Now it comes on but won't go off unless i adjust it to far that it will go off but it too lean to be effective when starting cold.
i'll call Holley in the morning to see if they still have these springs available.

 

[JohnZ]

Barry, check my post just above your last one for the numbers.

 

[allcoupedup]

Barry,
Vacuum is what pulls the choke off and there is a small cork seal between the choke housing and the main body of the carburetor. If this cork seal is missing or old and flat, there won't be enough vacuum to pull off the choke.

I don't know how you'd verify this w/o removing the choke but it could be the source of your problem. I do not know where to get an individual seal!

The other thing necessary for function is a nice fit between the choke piston and cylinder. This is what converts the vacuum into physical movement. If this fit is too tight or too loose your pull off won't work.

Brian

 

[allcoupedup]

One more thing regarding the leak. Try using the genuine holley reusable bowl and metering block gaskets - they are blue. While I don't recommend using gaskets, these are high quality and extra thick and may seal up any leaks that did not exist before your "rebuild".


I just finished rebuilding my Holley 2818 for the 2nd time. The first time I didn't check for warpage and I used cheap gaskets. The 2nd time I filed all of the mating surfaces and used a Holley renew kit. Everything is good now.


Brian

 

[BarryK]

thanks John, that's exactly what I needed - a Holley part # and a source, or at least a possible source

 

[BarryK]

thanks Brian. i was under the assumption the choke was brought back to "open" (off) by the thermo spring heating up??

on the leak, you would think someone who is known for neing a quality carb rebuilder would at least use good quality gaskets! I won't stand for a fuel leak for two reasons, safety, and it will stain my newly cleaned up intake which would make my entire 2 month project a complete waste of time so I'm going to have to end up pulling the carb again and tearing it apart myself I guess and replace the gaskets. I HATE this.
Well, at least i'll learn about my carb this way and if i get it right i'll feel good about being able to do it myself, and if i screw it up at least i'll have no one to blame but myself.

If I wasn't trying to keep the car stock, i'd just replace the whole thing with a Barry Grant unit

 

[LT4man]

Barry,

There should be a heat tube running from your exhaust manifold up to the choke housing. This tube draws heated air from the exhaust and allows the choke spring to get hot and opens up the choke plate gradually as you are driving.

If the tube is missing, your choke will never operate correctly.

Report back to us or PM me and I will explain to you how to install a new tube.

Save The Wave!