Electronic Choke on 1967 Belvedere

[tag]

I'm trying to get the electronic choke hooked up on my Edelbrock. The car is my 1967 Satellite "Running Project", sporting a 440. I'm wondering which switched 12 volt source is commonly used for this. My harness is original (as is most of the car...except the 440) with the few mods I've made to it (MSD Blaster 2 Coil, MSD ECU/Pro-billet combo). I initially just rigged it to the positive terminal of my coil, albeit this isn't the idea spot since I know the element in the choke unit can draw quite a bit of juice. I am running a 12 volt coil with no ballast.

To my surprise yesterday when I fired the car up after rigging this and then shut it off to adjust the coke so it'd actually close cold, I discovered when trying to re-start that my starter had given up the ghost. So I popped it out, picked up another starter, slapped it in...and the story repeats itself. This is two starters, it was from Napa so I might chock it up to bunk parts (wouldn't be the first time). In either case I'm going to change the harness so it's not running off the positive coil terminal just 'cause well, the instructions say not to anyway and I don't need that element drawing from my coil's lead. But I was wondering if any of ya'll think this could some how be related to the zapping starters, I haven't been able to reason about any rational possibility that my choke is frying the starter so I'm assuming it's just a coincidence.

Here's a photo of the rolling project, just for fun:

 

[Meep-Meep]

Well, I have a 66 Bel with a 440 and my choke is hooked up to the ignition side of ballast resistor (not the coil side). Seems to work fine. I agree that the choke will put a draw on that circuit but I think there is plenty of available current. I was looking up the specs of the MSD coil the other day and it shows a peak current draw in the mA range I believe, or something pretty low. Just make sure all the connections up to the coil and through the bulkhead are scraped clean.

I don't see how the coil circuit can affect the starter. What exactly is failing on the starter?

Looks like a nice ride by the way.

 

[tag]

It's the solenoid. I'm going to chock it up to a fluke. My coil is 12 volts, so I'm running without a ballast resistor. I was considering figuring a way to run off the field side of the voltage regulator. I might just leave it on the coil — but it does say not to wire it there. Tried to call tech-support to ask why, but they're closed for the holiday.

 

[tag]

I wound up running it off the FLD terminal on the voltage regulator, which is equivalent to running it from the Stator circuit. I saw numerous recommendations to use this setup as it's only powered when the engine is spinning and the fluctuations in voltage from the unregulated side of the circuit isn't a problem for the choke's simple element. I also added an in-line 10amp fuse.

The third starter appears to have stuck, and insofar has not disappointed. I assume starter #2 was just a defective part.

My choke is still not closing properly but it is opening properly when I close it by hand (cold) and run the motor for about 3 minutes. I believe the mechanism that closes it is actually the vacuum-driven piston, which is unrelated to the electrical part of the kit. I'll figure that out next, probably some adjustment I'm missing.

 

[Meep-Meep]

The piston in the choke housing is a choke pull off and it's job is to crack open the choke valve (against spring tension) just enough so the engine can get some air to support combustion when it's cold. There is a specific adjustment procedure for this function.

Rotating the black round choke cover is how you adjust the choke. It might have the word LEAN with an arrow written on the side, which means if you rotate the housing in the direction of the arrow the spring tension decreases and the butterfly opens. The lower spring tension means the bimetallic spring does not require as much heat before it begins to move thus opening the butterfly sooner.

Hooking the choke up to the field seems rather odd. The field connects to the rotor through slip rings and the variable voltage from the regulator increases or decreases the magnetic field to adjust the output of the stator. I have to wonder if adding the load of the choke heater will affect the operation of the regulator.