Help finding hot air choke parts

[general gow]

I have a 1955 Thunderbird with a later intake (ECZ-9425-b) with the 4160 style carburetor. The hot air choke is broken (I think it's probably a spring inside? I haven't opened it up yet) and the choke stays shut unless I wire it open. I was hoping to get a rebuild kit for it, but I cannot find anything. It seems that replacement kits are electric choke conversions, but that won't work for me as the '55 is still 6 volt.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a fix? I'm up for anything, including a new carb. The car has a long family history, and I want to be driving it!

Thanks.

Mark

[Joe Johnston]

Open it, take and post pictures. Someone may be able to help in the best way possible. As of now, we are only guessing.

[ICON 1956]

I sounds like the spring is broken, You need to disassemble the choke unit.

[paul2748]

CASCO lists a cover and spring for the 57 style carb, plus the tubes that go with the choke

If it's an aftermarket Holley, then Holley should have parts

find a carb rebuilder in your area

If you listed where you live in your data, maybe would could help more

[ICON 1956]

Yes, good call paul 2748. Altitude does play a BIG part in calibrating the carb / choke . Remember these car don't have fuel injection !

[CSavaglio]

Check out Mike's Carburetors. He's a good guy, helpful and likely has what you need. If thr thermostatic spring inside the choke cap is broken(I've never seen one break, but they do wear out), he has a couple style caps... You'd have to measure and get the right style(loop or not on the end of the spring).

More than likely, something is just out of adjustment or loosened. Mike or someone else may have a video on how to set the choke stuff up on YouTube, otherwise get a paper or e-copy of the 4000 manual and it has the procedure to set it up.

Chris

[general gow]

thanks Chris. I'll be diving into it later this week. Something is definitely broken on the back side. Whatever the choke rod mounts to there is broken off.

Waiting on some other parts to arrive so I can set some space aside in the shop to get all the jobs done. Then I'll go headlong into it.

[CSavaglio]

Sorry, I just noticed you're running a B intake and a 4160, not a 4000. Drawback of trying to read forums on my phone. I ran an 1848 with the hot air choke for a while until some things pointed towards needing a little bit bigger carb and I switched to electric.

The modern style Holleys have endless info/pics of the choke and how it should be set up. There's slight differences depending on whether you're running a old OEM carb, old aftermarket, or later aftermarket carb, but they're all very similar. Holley themselves sell complete choke retrofit kits for electric, but, even tho a few of the new carbs have hot air chokes, it doesn't seem like they sell the housings separately. Either way, Mike can prob point you in the right direction figuring out exactly what you need.

Unless you're dead set on keeping the hot air choke (I have electric on my '55, but still run the hot air on my '63..they both work perfectly fine), an electric conversion may be the way to go. The holley kits have varying amounts of stuff included, from just the electric cap and bare minimum to convert from hot air to the entire housing/linkage setup to go from a manual choke. Depending on what's broken or missing on yours, that may be a good way to go.

C

[general gow]

I've thought about going with a manual choke and finding a place to route it through the firewall. I didn't think that electric choke was an option with a 6 volt car. It looks to me like an original '57 carb. My parents had this car in the late 60s, found out they were pregnant with me and sold it, then bought it back 25 or so years later. In the meantime it had a restoration done in the late 70s, early 80s by the owner at the time, who was a friend of my dad's. The friend owned a small family-run Ford dealership in town, and had access to everything under the sun, and I suspect it got the manifold and carb change then.

I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet, and I am waiting on a new battery too. Updates soon.

[CSavaglio]

I didn't realize you're still running 6v. Electric chokes won't work. Don't go to manual unless it's a last resort... It won't really fit the feel of the car. If you do, mount the bracket under the dash using existing holes. I run a manual choke in my 51 Ford, which is fine for that car (it originally had a manual choke).

I would try to get the hot air choke working