How does a manual choke work? just a cable pulling a choke plate? is there a fast idle cam?
just trying to make a selection. It doesn't seem southern california is cold enough to warrent an electric choke.
On my Edelbrock, when you first pull the cable it closes the choke butterfly, when you pull it a little more, part of the linkage bumps up the idle setting until you push the cable back in. So, yes. Manual chokes are nice because they do what you want them to, as where some automatics I have delt with have a mind of their own.
Just like jaredgoodwin said, the Edelbrock would close the choke plate to enrich the mixture by reducing the amount of air coming in. I can't say I have seen a manual choke Holley yet to know how they work. I think they are probably similar though.
I just finished rebuilding a used 600 Holley, manual choke that I bought for $25 from a local speed shop in Whittier. I used a rotary cut off tool and sliced off the air horn over the primaries, gutted all the choke mechanism, installed a quick change secondary kit, polished the venturis and wow what a difference over the old 600 Holley. You're right, no choke needed in So Cal, unless you go up to the snow.
Oops, I just realized that you have an automatic tranny. You may want to stick with a choke. I have a top loader 4 speed so blipping the throttle in neutral helps to warm up the engine faster between shifts and stops.
To answer his original question, yes a manual choke Holley has a fast idle cam. Works good in warm climates, just remove the choke plate and let the fast idle take over.