Hi guys,

I have a '55 Thunderbird with a 292. It's got a later ECZ-9425-B intake with the Holley 4160 style carb on it. The hot air auto choke is toast. Broken things and the choke stays shut unless I wire it open. I'm open to any fix at all, including a new carb. I looked for a new hot air choke kit, but all I find are electric choke upgrades. That won't work for me, as the car is 6v. Anybody have any ideas on how I can get this back up and running?

Thanks,

Mark

1934 Ford 3w with 292
1954 Ford Coupe with '57 312
1955 Thunderbird

There could be several  things not working; For a start, the hot air tube inside the intake manifold crossover may be corroded out, so little or no heat is getting up to the Choke housing.  Is the insulated tube connection to the choke housing there?  Depending where you are located & the temp that you drive the car in, the exhaust manifold diverter may not work or be missing?. In warm climates some omit it.. Have you taken off the plastic choke cover & checked it for dirt, rust etc.?..  I'll let others post further suggestions...


Paul

The hot air choke system works on suction. There is a passage in the carb choke body and the carb itself that sucks. If you can remove the 4160 choke body it is easy to tell which it is. ...it's the one with no threads and about 1/8" in diameter with either a gasket on the choke body or the carb body. start the engine and feel if there is an sucking. it wont be much because its venturii vacuum i believe. If you do the carb is good. Now start thru the rest of the parts. With the choke body on, check for a vacuum at the place where the fitting from the manifold goes. If it's there you need to go to the line in the intake that goes in the exhaust crossover passage. If it is plugged then you work to clear it. they are replaceable on the A manifold but I'm familiar with the B. 
If the line in the manifold it burnt out from exhaust and rusted out you will hear and exhaust leak or ticking. I'm not sure how the line on the drivers side comes up to the air horn on a stock 57 Autolite carb. but fresh air should be drawn into the system when stock.
Good Luck.. Have fun. working on 60 year old parts....

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

I’ll add to Paul’s comments on the hot air tube that goes through the crossover in the intake manifold.  When corroded or rotted out, those tubes are prone to putting raw exhaust into the ‘hot air’ choke assy.  When that happens, the choke coil and housing literally burn up or as you said "toast'.  I’ll suggest that the hot air tube in the intake manifold be checked thoroughly before replacing the choke assembly on the carburetor if intending to stay with a hot air choke system.

Simply getting another housing and choke coil from another ‘older’ Holley carburetor will at least fix what’s wrong with the existing carburetor.  New parts for the current carb are likely available but it will take some research.  Another option is to convert the carburetor to a manual choke and install a choke cable.  I have installed my choke cable so it operates from a spot just above the parking brake which keeps it hidden.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I replace that manifold choke tube whenever I remove an intake manifold.  the tubes are still available, and take almost no time to knock out and replace.  The biggest part of the mob is removing and replacing the intake manifold.  You mentioned that you replaced the manifold with a later model.  I hope you also replaced the distributor as the Teapot works best with the load-o-matic distributor.  

I have a '55 Thunderbird with a 292. It's got a later ECZ-9425-B intake with the Holley 4160 style carb on it. The hot air auto choke is toast. Broken things and the choke stays shut unless I wire it open. I'm open to any fix at all, including a new carb. I looked for a new hot air choke kit, but all I find are electric choke upgrades. That won't work for me, as the car is 6v. Anybody have any ideas on how I can get this back up and running?

Can you post photos, one of your present CARB and one of the choke housing along with the CARB LIST NO.?

____________________________

In case you go the route of pulling the manifold and replacing that heat tube, here is a photo of that pesky animal. These tubes are readily available. The 56/57 4 barrel manifolds use the same tube, but the 2x4 manifold is a little different in size. I am not sure on the EBD supercharger manifold and which one that takes but at any rate, you should be able to find what you need. These tubes pop up on eBay from time to time as well. They are pretty much a press fit, but I have found that with a number of manifolds that I have restored that sometimes previous owners got a little over-zealous and hogged out the smaller end with a drill bit (since these tubes are a press fit they only insert from the larger end) of the manifold and that will keep the smaller end of the tube from sealing. I use a little JB Weld at that spot and we are good to go.


In 



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Factory ones are pretty easy. Aftermarket aluminum 3-2 and 2-4 are cast in at least mine was. My 2-4 had one burned out and I needed to plug it with Allen head set screws to stop the exhaust leak/tick. Thankfully the other one was good for the choke or I would have needed to go electric. Old speed parts are just like stock. Years of use or sitting/neglect can cause needed repairs. 

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Contact Holley.  They should be able to supply the parts you need.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Mark,
The first thing I think you should do is to decide whether you want the carb and intake to be a 1955 or 1956 vintage.  What will control thts is the distributor.  The stock 1955 distributor is a single diaphragm, loadamatic vacuum type.  the 56 distributor is a dual diaphragm and mostly a mechanical type.  The carburetor should match the distributor for best performance.  I have both 1955 as well as 1956 rebuilt carbs for sale that have been run on an engine and adjusted for performance.  I also have a 1955 choke assembly if you decide to go back to a 1955 intake.
Replacing the intake hot gas bypass tube is not difficult with the proper tool.  I machined a rod to the OD of the tube and drove it out.  Note that the tube ends are two different diameters.
If yew want to contact me use wabateATverizonDOTnet as I don't check my gmail account.

Good luck,

Bill A
1955 Thunderbird