Quote: How can you achieve 14 plus in N and have it rich enough to get it to warm up? I cranked my electric choke to the max setting and I left the ms's set at 1 full turn and I will try and restart it again once the engine is completely cold again and see what happens on the guage. If this does not do it, I may consider adapting a manual choke.
Holley-type electric chokes get no feedback from the engine. You just put 12 volts on a bimetallic heater, and the choke begins the process of opening. In an effort to make the choke stay closed longer, you can crank it richer, but then it might be too rich at first startup, and the choke might close when you turn the engine off for 20 minutes. Not good.
I copied (sort of) the factory choke arrangement from the 70's. I bought some normally open temperature switches (50 degrees C, if I remember correctly); they are approximately the diameter of a dime and about 4 times as thick) and put a power resistor in PARALLEL with the switch. Mine worked out to be 10 ohms, but a small rheostat would make it adjustable. I mounted this on a small rectangular piece of stainless steel (so it's purty) drilled a hole and mounted it under one of the intake manifold bolts. The power for the choke is fed through this circuit.
When the engine is cold (and the temperature switch is open), power to the choke flows through the resistor, making the opening rate slower. Once the engine wams up (and the switch closes) full 12 volts is applied to the choke heater.
You adjust the choke so that cold start is right. You tweak the resistor size and the location of the entire mechanism (some places on the engine warm up faster than others) to get the opening rate set properly.
If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll send you a temperature switch - I've got a bunch of them.
Quote: I am wondering if 14+ in N is just too lean of a goal. I just read a thread where someone said that it is better to run the N reading in the 13.0-13.5 range. I am not sure where to aim for now. The 13.5 range would allow the cold startup to improve until the warmer outside temps get here.
Idle is an area where you should just ignore the meter and set it the old fashioned way, IMHO. Of course, use the meter as a sanity check, but idle is an area where some engines are happy richer or leaner than others.
I'm glad you got a wideband meter. Carb perfectionists such as yourself should have every possible tool at their disposal.
Good luck,
Jim
ETA - switch is wired in parallel with resistor, NOT series. That wouldn't work very well.
