choke thermostat issue on holley 1945

[LowAnSlowRestore74]

I have a clearly non working choke thermostat and there are several wires not hooked up in the area. I would like to replace the thermostat and the control but im not sure which wire was supposed to hook up or if it even matters, I also cant seem to find a replacement control. any help would be appreciated. cheers.

 

[slantsixdan]

Steer around the big pile of aggravation and wind up with a better result: install a № 1234 Electric choke kit instead of the problem-prone, non-adjustable rinky-dink mess of a factory setup.


(Is that pink paint on the valve cover?)

 

[LowAnSlowRestore74]

Steer around the big pile of aggravation and wind up with a better result: install a № 1234 Electric choke kit instead of the problem-prone, non-adjustable rinky-dink mess of a factory setup.


(Is that pink paint on the valve cover?)

lol yes it is, I had some paint laying around that I was going to put on some calipers a while back and it never ended up happening so there it went! I’m an electrical dummy, do you know how I’d go about wiring it? Is it one of those loose wires pictured?

 

[slantsixdan]

Wiring instructions are included with the choke kit, but it's really easy. The new choke has two wires. One gets connected to a source of key-on battery voltage. One of the loose flying wires already in your engine compartment probably fills the bill, but if not, disconnect the ballast resistor (white ceramic block on the firewall or fenderwell) and use a test light or voltmeter to figure out which wire goes live when you switch the ignition on; that's the one to tap into. It's best not to use the fold-over-and-crunch "Scotchlok" type taps. Much better, more durably trouble-free result if you use a Posi-Tap. If you'll get this assortment, you'll surely find uses for them (they're one of those products that you buy for a particular project, but then other uses for them keep popping up in front of you once you have them).

The choke's other wire comes pre-terminated to connect to the choke modulator that comes in the kit. That has a copper-strap mounting tab. You clean the paint and rust off the rear engine lifting bolt hole (on the cylinder head located between the valve cover and the manifolds—where your present choke modulator is attached) and put the new modulator there so its body is hanging in the air over the manifold. Then your wire-up of the choke is done, and you can move on to cleaning up the frazzled previous wires.