If that corrosion is on the visible outer parts of the metal, and not the mating surfaces where the current flows, then it won't affect performance. Corrosion on the mating surfaces will increase the resistance of the circuit.

 

Chris - No worries. The thing about electrical is resistance & heat. Increased resistance increases the demand current (amperage) to overcome resistance. As current (amperage) increases to overcome resistance, the heat adversely effects the longevity of the ignition coil as well as increases the corrosive properties of the metal attachment points. I'm not 100% about your electronic ignition system, I suspect you're still using the ignition condenser mounted on the outside of the ignition coil? It would also be a GREAT time to replace the ignition coil condenser and I'll explain why.

It is correct to believe the condenser absorbs energy and prevents arcing between the contact points each time they open; but you don't have contact points. None-the-less, in both cases the condenser really plays a significant role by rapidly collapsing the magnetic field. It's the rapid collapse of the electrical field which ensures a solid spark each & every time.

 

Yeah, and you won't know that unless you clean them.

 

I was wondering why the electric choke coil didn't have the second wire connected - isn't that the ground wire?

 

That's funny you mentioned that...I thought the exact same but thought I didn't know enough about how it was supposed to be connected. I wonder?

 

Looking again I see it's a black wire, so maybe it is the ground wire. But then that would mean there is no +12 Volt connection to the choke.

 

Which you makes you wonder if the choke is operable....?

 

Guys - I don’t know enough about the operation of my specific Holley Street Demon carb to give you the answer. If I were guessing, I'd guess the electric choke is non-functional based on the initial starting procedure (after sitting several days) relayed to me by the previous owner. Procedure is to pump the gas pedal 10-times, turn on the ignition. It almost always starts and continues to run on the 1st attempt. If it doesn't start immediately, or starts and quickly falters and dies, pump pedal 3 or 4 more times and retry. It's never taken more than 2 trys for it to start and stay running. Once it has been started and has been driven, you no longer have to pump the pedal prior to restarting it the rest of the day. Just turn the key and it fires right up.

 

Non-operational choke. You essentially have no choke - at all.

 

I'm modestly suspicious why the PO disconnected the electric choke. It may be as simple as they didn't wire in the choke correctly so they simply removed the hot wire power feed and called it a day.

 

Oh but the view up there is so nice

 

True. A fellow golfer (Jack) stopped playing golf w/ us ~3 years ago - Jack is now 96 yrs old. At 83 yrs of age Jack was on his roof doing some form of maintenance or whatever. He positioned the ladder well enough to climb onto the roof unfortunately he could not get back down onto the ladder. Fire department was called to bring him down.

 

Chris How does it start when its cold? Norm Having spent 1/2 my life climbing over parapets to get on a shopping center roof, I can saw w/o a doubt getting off the ladder is the easy part getting back on to go down is much harder

 

*insert exaggerated shoulder shrug here*

I dunno. I'm sure it's a mixture of fescue, rye, and ol' Kentuck-ah.

 

I witnessed my neighbor across the street get hung up and unable to figure out how to get back on ladder to get off the roof a couple of years ago. I offered assistance, he declined, and then I kinda kept an eye on him until I saw him get down. His roofline is the same as mine, right in the corner of the garage/house roofs, and I found myself in the same situation years earlier. I figured it out much faster than he did, though.

 

Jim - I am assuming you are asking about Winter type cold and not just cold from sitting. The car never sits outside during the Winter, so it never gets super cold. I do go out and start it up in the Wintertime and run it up to operating temp for awhile to drive moisture out of it. The garage/car temp might be down to high 30's or low 40's if the outside temp is low enough. Starting procedure and results are still the same. Pump the gas 10-times, try to start, usually starts and continues to run on the first try. Sometimes a second cycle is needed with only 3 or 4 pumps on the gas pedal on the 2nd cycle.

 

Returned from getting my pearly whites cleaned. Back to more climbing.

 

Chris Tanks Yes I was referring to cold winter starts. The only thing I can bring to the party is 10 x sounds a little excessive. BUT I learned a long time ago Each one of the beast has its own quirks and [as an owner/operator] you just have to remember their temperament

 

I was also thinking 10x seems a bit much, but wasn't going to say anything. That is, until the image of Kramer furiously pumping the gas of his car, trying to start it, in the parking garage episode of Seinfeld, jumped into my head. 🤣

 

Hey Jim and Jeff - 10-times may be excessive, I don't really know. But remember, during those Wintertime start-ups, the car has sat for at least a month or more, I'm sure the fuel bowl is bone dry. During the summertime, at least a week, sometimes more, between starts and the garage temp is +90° during the day, again the fuel bowl is probably completely dry.

 

One of the all time best episodes.

 

Like women...

 

Norm Do you only pump your woman 10 x

 

The way i see it, Norm is probably up on that scaffolding painting.....so he be stokin. Stokin to the left....stokin to the right.... He be stokin

 

Lots of cocking after sanding & prior to painting.

 

Y’all crack me up…

 

Highly variable, Jim.

 

At one time back in the 80s I had a Holley carb without a choke. After pumping the gas a few times the engine would start and idle fine, but I could not drive off as the engine would die. Had to let it run for a bit to warm up first. So Chris's carb may be similar in that it dumps enough fuel to have a rich enough mixture to fire up and idle.

 

Kenneth - The description of your car with a Holley carb is exactly how mine acts. When it first starts it will sit and idle just fine, but if I immediately put it in gear without it warming a bit, it will most probably die. After started, I usually let it warm up 3 or 4-minutes, I need to do that anyway to build a little vacuum in the canister if I want to have brakes.

 

I'm thinking that a manual choke would work fine, with less gas pumping to be had. Had a 850 Holley on my '66 goat and the choke mounted under the dash, I would reach down, pull it about half way out (insert commnet here) and give it one pump of the gas, and it would fire right up.

 

Dan - I'm sure that would work, but why go to the trouble? The pumping 10-times only needs to be done 1 time during initial start-up after it has sat for a long period of time without running it. After it has been started once on any given day, the rest of the day there's no pumping, just turn the key and it fires right up. If I run the car on 2 consecutive days, on the 2nd day, maybe 1 or 2 pumps max and it fires up. To me it's not really a big inconvenience.

 

I would just run a switched 12 Volt wire to the choke coil. On mine I used the IGN terminal in the fuse box.

 

Kenneth - I am going to be brutally honest, I am not a good mechanic. I can do simple mechanical stuff, but I am absolutely clueless and horrible with electrical. I would require some assistance from one of my much more knowledgeable car buddies to do as you're suggesting. I'm satisfied with how the car operates for right now, it's not a big inconvenience considering how well the car runs otherwise. Thanks for your insight and suggestion though!

 

Chris - Reason enough to leave it "as is".

Put up some more pictures we'll find something else for you to do.

 

C'mon man, let me get the zip ties changed out, and the coil connections checked/cleaned first before ya start busting my ***** again!

 

 

Chris, this would be a very simple operation.

You would need a length of wire with a female blade terminal crimped on each end.

Connect one end to the choke coil terminal.

Run the wire through an existing grommet in the firewall.

Connect the other end to the IGN terminal in the fuse box.

Done.

Now you would be able to drive the car in cold temperatures without a long warmup period.

 

You mean down the driveway and back into the garage?

 

Chris, I believe like Coca Cola should have. If it aint broke don't fix it

 

Well, I was thinking of times before the roads were salted, driving with the top down and the heater on, enjoying the brisk air that makes the engine feel powerful, and laying down rubber stripes at the stop lights. Eh, maybe I’m just remembering fun times from my youth.