replacing choke mount/lever

[bluejon]

As I have a broken choke lever prong, how easy is it to replace the mount and level unit. I can pick up the replacement parts, but haven't explored in the car to see what the job entails, so, ...

Does it require removing the full centre console, or not? And then, is the best way to disconnect the existing cable, replace the mount/level and reattach the existing cable -or- replace the whole shebang including cable through the bulkhead? How does the cable attach to the lever unit?

 

[Mr Ex Jnr]

On samuri my dad took choke off it, so there isn't one takes a while to fire her up if u leave it a month but once started it ticks over fine

 

[uk66fastback]

So the actual choke lever is broken off, and you have the vertical metal arm there that takes the grub screw?

That was what I had on mine. And like an idiot I continued to use it without freeing up the operation ... I don't think the cable had seen any oil in years. Eventually I broke a part within the actual bottom of the arm, the piece where the cable - it is just ONE long cable - wraps round. Anyway, SacCylone in CA got me a new part ... job done. The actual arm piece bolts to the bottom of the console - and is a known weak point. You can buy metal plates on ebay that enable you to bolt the mechanism to the tunnel to give it more strength. As long as the lever comes out of the slit in the console, it shouldn't matter where it is mounted - as long as the cable works freely and evenly on the choke parts on the bottom of the carbs.

When you lift up the console you'll see how it is mounted. It's a pretty simple affair. Just don't lose the small bolts and washers ...

 

[bluejon]

A simple affair...i like the sound of that. Mine is slightly different in that it seems mounted firmly, but the break is at the grey arm. It has snapped at its weakest point where the grub screw attaches the door knob. It's quite stiff so guess that was a factor in it's demise.

 

[andrew muir]

You have to remove centre console, then remove the mech from the console.
I mounted mine on the centre tunnel as the plastic on the console is not strong enough and breaks easily.
I used stainless rivet screws mounted into tunnel at appropriate points, then some threaded rod and spacers to mount the mech. Has been working great for over 5 years. Also remember to lube the cable and mech.

 

[bluejon]

A happy day today as I made good my shonky choke lever that stared at you like a broken finger in the console. Here was my starting point. The cause of this some time in the car's past is a combination of un-lubed 'sticky' choke cables and perhaps a flaw in the manufacture of the prong. It appears that the hole for the grub screw was not central to the metal and was for larger grub screw. Two together equalled weakened metal and snapped prong.


I recently sourced an entire series 1 assembly, with cables, at a bargain price. Mike (SacCyclone) kindly took a US delivery on that for me and brought it to the UK on his recent trip from California to Europe. So now to do the business ...

First up, having explored the fittings of the centre console a few weeks ago I decided I was going to replace the choke prong in situ for two reasons (1) not removing the entire centre console because I cannot yet determine how it detaches under the radio area (2) not detaching the full choke assembly hwich fixes upwards underneath the console plate because the forward screw towards the gear stick is not well accessible.

The approach the was simply to unscrew the rear of the console and lever it upwards, supporting it both at the rear and in the fragile area near the gear stick so the unit stayed straight.


Removing the broken piece required removal of just two screwed bolts. Access a little tricky from the back - you need to hold the bolt heads in order to remove the nylon lock nuts. I used both a ratchet with extension and an adjustable head wratchet spanner.


Once off, an interesting comparison of the two. It seems two sub-variants of cable attacment housing on series 1 choke assemblies. The next pic is one for all you geeks out there What looks like the older version has a brass screwed bar, brass cyclinder and metal widget for the cable to loop through. The metal widget makes quite a narrow radius for the loop What I'd say is the improved version has a nylon widget for the cable loop, the radius is also larger, and there's a standard nut+bolt fixing - the cable itself (not pictured) is also plastic coated where it makes its loop around.


The trickiest manoeuvre of all was installing the new prong. After a few attempts I worked out to tackle the cable fix first - clipping on the widget, squeezing the nylon washers between it and the prong and with much wiggling and faffing pushing the bolt through all five elements from the rear. Once on, a simple job to put the bottom bolt back on.

Now all is good. Looks smart and is now a very rare example of a complete series one choke/throttle combination