electric choke replacement part goes in wrong direction

[Jimntempe]

I couldn't find too many threads on problems with electric chokes so posting this here just to document what happened to me in case it happens to someone else.

My electric choke got flaky and was no longer heating up leaving the choke on. So I order a replacement which supposedly is for Holley 4150 series carbs which is the series holley says my 1848 carb is. Maybe the carb is that series but the choke isn't the same as the true 4150's.

Anyway... Put the new one on and connected power to test it. Instead of the choke coming off as it heated up it make the choke closed even harder. What???

After comparing the old and new and how the spring reacted to heat as well as the "LEAN -->" arrow on the case I concluded the new one "unwinds" when heated in the opposite direction from the old one. These are for sale for around $24 on Amazon and ebay and etc and all of them go in the wrong direction. I found what looked like one that goes in the right direction as a genuine Holley part included with an almost $100 kit for a choke conversion. I also saw one listed for an Autolight 4100 that might work, couldn't tell if it would fit or not.

What I was able to do was to carefully pry the springs out of the old and new ones and put the old spring in the new housing. Seems to be working so far. It's 82 degrees, so I set the choke at about 3/4 closed and turned on the power. In less than a minute and a half the choke was fully open.

[55blacktie]

I can't speak for the differences between electric chokes, but all 55-57 Tbirds had heat-riser chokes. The 1848-1 carburetor (replacement for the 57 carburetor) came with a heat-riser choke as well. The newest 1848-2 is equipped with an electric choke. Although the 1848-1/2 resemble the original 57 carburetor, they are a 4160-series carburetor, not 4150. The current 4150 carburetors are dual-feed, with the fuel inlets on the passenger side. I have a Holley Street Avenger 570 carburetor. It is a 4150, not 4160, and has dual inlets as described. If you go to Holley's site, Summit, etc., there should be listings for electric chokes for both the 4150 and 4160 carburetors. If there are two different part numbers, that could explain why yours is different. There should also be an electric-choke conversion kit for the earlier carburetors/w heat-riser choke.