engine and drivetrain 38/38 - What Choke Option?

[Stuart]

Looks like I'm going with a 38/38.  My question, manual or electronic choke?  What are the positives and or negatives of either?  I'm leaning towards the simplicity of a Manual.

 

Stuart

[Mark92131]

You can't beat the simplicity of the manual choke, but if your car isn't set up for the manual choke cable, there is the issue of mounting and routing it.  I have seen them in strange positions, i.e. through the dummy foglight switch in the console.  With the choke cable, you will need to drill some holes.  With the electric choke, tap the fuse box or smog harness to pull switched power and you are done.  If your 38/38 has a shutoff for the idle jet, you'll need to pull power for it.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

Mark92131

[jrhone]

I have the electric choke version and its never really worked like I wanted it to…after fiddling for so long, I pretty much gave up…Glad I'm in SoCal where the weather doesn't get that bad and a choke isn't really needed.  When I go sidedrafts its manual choke if I can swing it.  When the electric choke works its brilliant...Like a modern car, but I think my 38/38 is getting a bit old and in need of a rebuild which is why its not working great.

Edited March 3, 2015 by jrhone

[roadhog0]

Not a big fan of the weber electric chokes. They come off too fast IMHO, but that being said if your car doesnt have a manual choke it's gonna be easier to just put an electric choke kit on. Yes, you'll have to baby it a little more when cold, but we all should. So yah, get an electric is my vote.

[wtinker]

Hey Mark,

 

We did a rebuild on my M10 last spring. Part of it, along with new piano pistons, cam and shorty header, we put on a 38/38 with electric choke.  The choke is inconsistent at best.  The 72 is not my dd (daily driver) so I get to play with it off and on. I'm going to play around with it until this summer and if not better..... I'm going to go back to a manual choke.

Edited March 7, 2015 by wtinker

[simonr]

I have the weber 38-38 on my street 2002. I have adjusted it and adjusted it and it is still Iffy at best. It always starts and goes to 3000 rpm like it should. The minute I start to drive it the car is cold blooded and I have to work with the accelerator to have drivability . If I have time I let it warm up in the driveway for 15 minutes and it runs fine. It always starts .

[Gil. H.]

I've got a manual choke 32/36 that I can't get dialed in right. So I'm heading up to a 38/38 manual choke.

It's pretty easy to get the under steering column facia(?)/bracket that holds the choke cable. I put on a request on the parts wanted and a number of folks replied. Bolts right on. I wasn't able to use the stock choke cable as it was a bit too short. I'm using a standard choke cable from AutoZone and it does the job, not original though. Also easy to run the cable through the firewall to the carb. I like the control you have with a manual choke. As my car is a daily driver, usability is important to me so I like to simplify things as much as possible.

There are two mfgs of 38/38. Weber and Empi, Weber is the standard as I believe that Empi are Chinese made and have read mixed reviews on quality and performance.

Please post on what you end up using, jetting and where you ended up purchasing.

[gregpark]

My electrically choked Weber 38 38 has always opened up too soon. I've tried to remedy but alas, to no avail. I'm a little embarrassed to say I've cut a paint stick to prop my accelerator peddle down from the dash to let it warm up for a few minutes. Hey, it works (and I use a really high quality paint stick).

[roadhog0]

Could put a resistor inline that way it would get less voltage and heat up faster? Im thinking out loud here...

[jimk]

My electrically choked Weber 38 38 has always opened up too soon. I've tried to remedy but alas, to no avail. I'm a little embarrassed to say I've cut a paint stick to prop my accelerator peddle down from the dash to let it warm up for a few minutes. Hey, it works (and I use a really high quality paint stick).

Need to increase the fast idle cam stop.

[gregpark]

Need to increase the fast idle cam stop.

Thought I tried that some time ago but will revisit the linkage, TY