I have a edelbrock 1406 carb with a electric choke .When I turn on ignition even if car is not running the choke canister gets like super hot even too hot to touch and it seems to just keep getting hotter and hotter till I disconnect it cause I get worried .Is this normal.
I think so. It has 12V applied to it when ever the ign is on. It runs the 12v through a coiled spring which when heated tightens up the spring thus opening the choke. So in that respect I would guess it is normal. How fast does it open the choke?
Your best bet is to just throw that carb. away and buy a Holley. I use mine as a door stop. Worst carb. that I have ever owned.
Just seems strange that it would get that hot .I have not really ran it too much sice I am waiting for exhaust to break in cam so I have basiclly just sat in car when doing stuff to the interior with radio or hooking up gauges and the carb get super hot .I should have just got manuel choke cause I am affraid this thing is going to catch on fire .
Edelbrock has a Tech line you can call,visit the website and after you talk to them let us know the outcome.The Carter AFB/Edelbrock carbs are usually reliable and trouble free I have one on my 302 Ford and it is performing great and no choke problems,I buy and sell carbs and have not had this as an issue.
I personally prefer Holley , but anybody telling you edelbrock is junk is simply stating an opinion... as stated above those Edelbrock/carter carbs are usually reliable. simple and reliable.
Sorry you don't know how to set up but one type of carb. Edelbrock's and the Carter's are good carbs. So are Quadrajets. Hell there are a lot of junk Holley's out there... Of the three they are all different to work on. Don't let someone's opinion sway you. Hell he couldn't even say why he thought it was junk.
Ship your Edelbrocks and Carters to me if you hate them so much - I have had several Holleys that leaked, had blown power valves and just plain sucked, but I wouldn't say all Holleys are junk. Yes that choke housing runs hot, it has a heater in it that makes the bimetallic coil spring relax and release the choke when running.
Is the bakelite bi-metal spring cover getting so hot you can't touch it or just pretty warm? I'd guess that it gets warm due to the hot bi-metal spring being electrically heated and then once the engine is warmed up most things up top are too hot to hang onto for long. If I don't forget, I'll see what my roadsters 750 Edelbrock does this morning after not having been run for a few days. Like the guys say, probably just normal. Put me on the list for that Edelbrock doorstop. Would a $20. do it for upfront shipping costs? I'm curious too . . . how did it run when you pulled it to swap for the Holley?
i have had several edelbrock carbs and they work good.if someone just wants a carb they can bolt on and start and drive there car they are awsome.BUT if you want to get the most out of your car there is nothing better than a holly!!!i had a 750 edelbrock on my amx.after 15 passes down the track{changing metering rods,jets springs}it went from 16.8 seconds to 14.6.after a while i took my old 750 dubblepumper and put it on and ran 13.9 on the first pass.got it tuned allitle more and ran a 13.4.as i said they are good street carbs but in my opinion if you want to go fast nothing beats a holly.
OH .. R.Seghi...... dude, you aint right. Thats his best bet huh? His best bet is to NOT listen to you. Thats how an electric choke works.
I've seen all kinds of junk carbs that didn't work right, fucked up by somebody that didn't know what they were doing................... As far as the electric choke getting hot, that's normal. And, of course it's abnormal to turn the ignition on, unless you plan to run the motor. So now you know.................
I wonder if the improvement in ET could be related to heat? Track temp as well as getting the diff & trans warmed up? And perhaps driver technique. Some excellent improvements after just a bit of tuning I'd say. Do you still have or remember the mph figures? Those are a good indication of power output.
The "Great Carb Debate". Q-Jets: Ya' either hate'm or love'm. Holleys: If you want performance, this is the way to go. Carters and Edelbrocks: Good street and mild performance carbs. I like metering rods for the street. Changing rods is like changing jets in a Holley, except it's easier. All ya' have to do is remove the air filter to access the carb top, then have at it. Each rod has two diameters and moves up and down in a fixed jet depending upon the vacuum signal. Small diameter for cruise and large for WOT, or high vacuum and low vacuum. Read the Edelbrock tuning book and do what they say. I just did that on my #1406 600cfm electric choke Edelbrock on top of a SBC in my '40 Ford coupe. Idle and WOT was good. Had a bad lean surge at cruise. Took the rods outa' a #1405 600 cfm manual choke carb I had on the shelf. Presto!!! Lean surge is gone. Idle and WOT remains the same. The small rod diameter was the same as what I took out. The small rod diameter was less which made the cruise, or low vacuum operation more rich. If I went too rich, I'll have to purchase another pair of rods to lean it down some. I used what I had in stock and it works great for now. Oh yeah, just because both carbs were 600 cfm doesn't mean they have the same jets and rods. They're different. And they were exactly what the tuning book said they were. There's a chart for each carb. It's so easy, even a caveman like me can do it!!!!! Can't tell ya' about the heat on the electric choke. Don't have it hooked up yet.
Well that started a proper bruhaha, holley/edelbrock, edelbrock/holley...problem is the guy asked about his electric choke and they both use the same choke. And yes, they'll both get hot. If you're gonna follow opinions and replace the edelbrock with a holley you'll have the same problem when you're sitting in it fiddleing with the radio, the choke'll get hot with the ignition on.
Bruhaha or not - and so far it seems polite - it's interesting. Fwiw - the manual choke competition 750 Carter I have came with 113 main jets and 107 secondaries. The electric choke street model 750 Edelbrock came with 110 jets and 107 secondaries. Both with appropriate rods. I've since leaned down the Edelbrock 750 as per the Edelbrock manual - went two steps lean - since I now live at 3340' altitude. Runs better here and also runs fine down at the river which is 500' altitude. So, y'all got me curious so I'll go fire up the 32 and see what cooks. Back in a few....
Back to the original question: When the car is RUNNING it pulls air through the choke mechanism to keep the spring from overheating. (There is a tiny little vacuum hole in the carb inside the mechanism - on carbs with manual choke that hole is plugged with a small brass plug.) So if the ignition is on for a long time and the car is not running, it will get hot.
I have the Edelbrock so I am going to stay with it at this point .If I went with a different carb I would go with the Autolite . It does get hot ,I can touch it but if I keep my finger agaist it it almost too hot to touch .It does not melt or anything though .I have left on for like 5 min and it does not seem to get any hotter then the stated above .Ijust did not want it to melt or catch fire so I always unplug it .
Ok . . . turned the ignition on. Stepped on the throttle to set the choke. No heat felt at the electric choke on the bakelite or on the metal housing after a little under a minute - don't like to leave the ignition on too long. Fired it and let it idle for a few minutes. Not long enough to have any heat coming off the engine, but the housing got barely warm. I'm guessing the housing is simply picking up heat from the engine after the engine is fully warm. More on that later today since I have to run across town to a friends shop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fwiw, the Carter/Edelbrock strip kits are getting a little expensive, but now and then you'll run across old and very complete ones - sometimes with extra's - at the car swaps. Last one I bought was $5. Note that they are for different size carbs and the one I bought didn't have the larger jets etc. for the bigger carbs. So I had to buy new stuff for the 750. My pal would have made out ok since the kit had just the right stuff to lean down the 600 cfm Edelbrock on his 327 powered 29 roadster for the altitude, but he couldn't get off his dead ass long enough to do it....
Atomickustom has a good point with the air bleed hole. Don't remember for sure, but if your carb has the electric choke added on later and the bleed hole is in the carb proper that could be the reason for the hot choke mechanism if it's still plugged. My other 750 with add-on choke is buried and I don't remember if I ever pulled the brass plug or noticed the choke mechanism running hot.
The electric choke is supposed to get hot. It heats the choke spring quicker than just engine heat. Buy a Holley if you love working on your carb ALL the time.
Ditto!!! Mass produced ,no quality and no performance. I had one on my car and it just ran OK . I tried everything to waken this carb and then dropped on a Holley and people that had rode with me before and after, thought I installed a new engine. It was that drastic. There is no adjustments for the vacuum secondary door. I have removed about half a dozen of these and bolted on a different carb and each person came back grinning ear to ear. These carbs are give aways at the swap meets.
Edelbrock is a damn good carb period. I have 2 on my sbc with no chokes hooked up and I'm here in the northeast. Where you are you don't need the choke so just adjust the choke out of it. Probably 1 quick little jab of gas in the morning to start it is all you're going to need. Instead of turning over once or twice, you might need to let it turn over 3 times. No big deal. Holley is still a good carb but not as good as they were 30 years ago imo. But for every day driving and reliability without constant tuning I'll take the Eddy's every time
i have been around lots of electric chokes and dont recall them being that hot on the outside, maybe your carb came with the Alaska choke?
well I guess you learn something new every day... I had no idea that my preferred carb choice was hand made as opposed to those mean old edelbrock carbs that are mass produced...lol now i really prefer holley... I like to support cottage industries and all... helpin the small guy... you know all that...
I doesn't seem to get all that hot. Checked mine yesterday after running down the hill to Laughlin, Nevada and the hot choke mechanism is probably due to underhood heat from the engine after running for about 45 minutes in 105* heat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interesting too are the stories and comments about removing one brand carb and installing the other. It would be interesting to see a drag strip test between Holley and Edelbrock carbs on the same car. Same size carb etc. In factory new tune or optimal for the area with both carbs to make it fair. Guessing here, but it seems the Carter/Edelbrock secondary tip-in is much smoother than the Holley. Holley's act like you switched on the 2nd engine when the secondaries pop open. Impressive, granted, but in most cases HP output is probably the same and 1/4 mile times are very close. Either carb in a well tuned state will do the job. One thing I do notice on these carb brand swaps is most times the old carb is used and plenty screwed around with, a new factory carb is installed and the "tune-up" is so much better that the old carb is needlessly blamed. My personal belief is, on all these stories about tossing the carb or using it for an anchor is nothing more than an interesting story. Not many will dump a potentially valuable item when they can recover some $$ from it to help pay for the new parts. The 750 Edelbrock I'm running now was about two weeks old when I got it. The kid who originally bought it had it way off the factory tune and simply returning it to baseline levels with a little further tuning a little ways down the road has it running well.
I encourage Carter/Edelbrock carb owners to read this and think about it for awhile. http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/misc/tech_center/install/1000/1406_manual.pdf
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