CHOKE? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING CHOKE!!!!!!!!!

[D.Hearne]

Ok, maybe not a classic Stang, but it is related. It's 26*F outside here in south Louisiana. I just went out to fire up the 89 V8 Ranger to drive to work. Motor is a carbed Explorer equivalent roller 5.0, topped with a Ford Racing A321 intake and a Holley 570 Street Avenger carb.(bought used off ebay) Cam in this motor is the Explorer's F4TE roller (256/266 advertised duration, .445/.473 lift with 1.7 Cobra rockers) Heads are ported 7's. Stock shortblock from a rolled 93 E150 van. No choke whatsoever on the Holley, that was the first thing I removed when I pulled it out of the shipping box. I just went out, and cranked the engine about 2 seconds without ever touching the gas pedal. Motor fired right off and it idled with out ever touching the pedal. I think the cam here is the secret, it's wide LSA lets it pull a strong vacuum signal right off the bat to help the carb circuits work. Ignition is a stock points distributor fitted with a Crane XR-1 unit, Mallory Promaster coil, Ford Racing 9mm wires, small to large cap adapter, large post type cap(Standard/Blue Streak blue cap w/brass terminals) Autolite stock plugs for E7 heads. Who says you need a choke in cold weather?

 

[mrmustangman357]

i do j/k

it amazes me how many people when they think of "no choke" they instantly think "race carb." In reality, most people drive their cars above 50 degrees F and never even need a choke. For me, it makes fast idle convenient for engine warmups before driving (in summer of course)

 

[DJCarbine]

I pulled the choke off the edelbrock 4105 I got in the mail as soon as it was out of the package. I start it up in 10 degree weather here in chicago just fine, takes some cranking but it fires up.

Only gets hard if it starts to catch and you flood it by accident, takes forever to get it going then

 

[68conv4sp]

D Hearne, I don't know if my thinking is sound on this, but when I used to use the choke on my Edel carb, the car fired faster but went immediately to a high idle (1600+rpm). This can't be good for a stone cold motor. I prefer to let it crank for 8-10 sec to build a little oil pressure and then it fires smoothly and holds about 850 rpm. Do you think that 8-10 sec of cold cranking is harmful in any way?

 

[Stanger007]

D. Hearne, where are you at in LA?

 

[Fast63]

D Hearne, I don't know if my thinking is sound on this, but when I used to use the choke on my Edel carb, the car fired faster but went immediately to a high idle (1600+rpm). This can't be good for a stone cold motor. I prefer to let it crank for 8-10 sec to build a little oil pressure and then it fires smoothly and holds about 850 rpm. Do you think that 8-10 sec of cold cranking is harmful in any way?

There is no benefit whatsoever to crank it 8-10 sec to build a little oil pressure before firing. Running 1600rpm cold start is no big deal at all. If it was a problem, they would never make a fast idle linkage, and it just doesn't make any sense anyway. You are building more oil pressure at 1600rpm than you are at 850rpm. Cranking 8-10 sec is a long time and can be harmful to your starter, wearing it out faster, and will put a little more wear on your charging system from all that juice taken from over cranking.

 

[68conv4sp]

Good point. I suppose it takes the same number of total revolutions to push a given volume of oil thru, whether it is at 850 or 1600rpms. The additonal wear of the starter/charging system is probably unnecessary.

 

[bnickel]

also slightly higher idle speeds help the oil move better when it's cold, this is especially helpful if you use a high viscosity oil like the 20w50 i use. i always let the engine run for a couple minutes before i drive the stang. on my 86 towncar i use 10w30 and can start driving within 20 seconds of starting the car, of course it helps that it's EFI too.

 

[mrmustangman357]

on a cold motor with thicker oil (20w-50) i would prefer less rpm as there is much less load at idle and allows the oil to start circulating and warm before higher rpms get reached. just my preference. at idle, as long as there is pressure reading on the gauge, oil is moving

 

[Hack]

It was single digits this morning and the EFI 302 in my '83 fired up with no problems. I agree that a choke is not needed.

 

[73nancy]

is your ranger a 4x4 by the way off topic i know. i was thinking of doing a v8 conversion in my 92 4x4 some day but herd it was tricky..

 

[D.Hearne]

D. Hearne, where are you at in LA?

I'm west of you, over in Opelousas.

 

[D.Hearne]

D Hearne, I don't know if my thinking is sound on this, but when I used to use the choke on my Edel carb, the car fired faster but went immediately to a high idle (1600+rpm). This can't be good for a stone cold motor. I prefer to let it crank for 8-10 sec to build a little oil pressure and then it fires smoothly and holds about 850 rpm. Do you think that 8-10 sec of cold cranking is harmful in any way?

I'd say it depends on what weight oil you're running. Thinner would be fine going to high idle, thicker? I'd let it warm some before reving it. 8-10 seconds of cranking would only cause wear on the starter, but even that would be hard to prove. If it sounded like it was laboring to crank it, yea, that wouldn't be good. If it had no trouble in cranking, it would harm nothing.

 

[D.Hearne]

is your ranger a 4x4 by the way off topic i know. i was thinking of doing a v8 conversion in my 92 4x4 some day but herd it was tricky..

Mine's a 2wd. It's had a V8 now for 6 years, with 5 different engine combos. All those were when I was playing with it, since then, it's been relegated to daily driver status and detuned from the 331- sixpack motor it had. The 331 is now in my 77 Comet drag car-toy. The tricky part of a 4x4 conversion is you're limited in engine placement, unless you relocate or replace the transfer case. There are two sites I post in: www.therangerstation.com and www.rangerpowersports.com The TRS site is geared more toward 4x4's.

 

[73nancy]

ok thanxs a bunch sounds like a nice ride

 

[Stanger007]

I'm west of you, over in Opelousas.

Ah ha, do you make it to State Capitol Dragway very often?

I'll be headed back in February once they finish reconcreting up to the eighth mile (they shut down early Dec for it).

Wes

 

[D.Hearne]

Ah ha, do you make it to State Capitol Dragway very often?

I'll be headed back in February once they finish reconcreting up to the eighth mile (they shut down early Dec for it).

Wes

Yea, the Comet ought to be ready to try again by then. I also want to run the Ranger at least once with the motor that's in it. It won't be as fast as it was with the 331 but I'm just curious as to how quick it is with this motor. Pics of the Comet are on my photobucket page http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p53/baddad457/

 

[Z06killinSBF]

I have no choke on my Edelbrock and it starts up just fine. It's the keeping it running that is alittle tricky. I doesnt like to idle right away but with my converter I can drive it right at the rpm I would have it running at in park anyhow.

 

[69gmachine]

OK, so there's enough evidence to indicate a choke is not absolutely necessary, but I wonder how much it really costs performance wise?

The Melvin part of my brain insisted that I make the heat stove choke on my OEM 735 Holley functional, if for no other reason than to look stock. I have a Quickfuel 750 that has a smoothed entry and no provision for a choke that I could swap on at the track, but I doubt I will realize any improvement any time soon. I can't take advantage of the power I already have on a road course.

I haven't taken the car to a drag strip since I put the 408 in because 1) it's set up for road racing not drag racing and 2) it doesn't even have a roll bar much less a cage and I was afraid I would twist the sheet metal.

So the question is "how much did you gain by removing the choke?" If you made other changes at the same time, 'fess up so we get a clear picture of what no choke was worth. After I get my roll bar welded in I plan to swap the wheels and tires, change the settings on the shocks and take it down the 1320 just to see what it can do.

 

[DarkoStoj]

who said 26* is cold