Choke Cable Return

[hmsevans]

I installed new choke cables that work well ,except that the Choke lever on the Carbs do not return when the knob is pushed in.
I did not install any springs on the Choke Assy.I did not see any in any of the Ref Manuals.
Please advise what I missed to get the chokes to back off.
Thanks. Mark

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

I installed new choke cables that work well ,except that the Choke lever on the Carbs do not return when the knob is pushed in.
I did not install any springs on the Choke Assy.I did not see any in any of the Ref Manuals.
Please advise what I missed to get the chokes to back off.
Thanks. Mark

The only factory springs installed, if you can call them that, are the ones on the adjusting screw on the left side of the carbs. Be sure the screw areas are very clean! You may have to take them apart and clean the "hole" where the verticle shaft goes through with a small round brush used for cleaning holes. Lubricate with only thin oil such as sewing machine oil or 3-in-one oil. Many guys put springs on the choke linkages and those only add addition wear to your parts plus make the choke harder to pull out. A better way is to place small springs, such as those that come in ball point pens, on the cable. This is the cable part that is between the carb mount and cable adjusting nut at the end of the cable. The springs will not increase wear on your carb shaft parts!
Patrick

 

[shorn]

Mark,
I have return springs. Moss catalog for the BJ8 carb shows the jet housing assembly (item 20) and the choke cable stop (item 138). There is a small hole in the end of the cable stop. The top of the spring attaches there. The other end of the spring attaches to a small hole on the inside of the wheel well for the forward carb. For the back carb the hole is in the frame piece that has circular holes. The springs on mine are about 6 inches long. I am not sure if a generic spring will work. Moss does not show the spring. You might try British Car Specialists. I personally think a generic spring would work. You just need to get them strong enough to return the choke cable.

 

[Keoke]

Yep everyone at least with HD carbs should have choke return springs. In practice they are the same spring as used for the throttle return springs and must be adjusted , properly stretched, to permit them to be installed in this application.--Fwiw--Keoke

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

I installed new choke cables that work well ,except that the Choke lever on the Carbs do not return when the knob is pushed in.
I did not install any springs on the Choke Assy.I did not see any in any of the Ref Manuals.
Please advise what I missed to get the chokes to back off.
Thanks. Mark

The only factory springs installed, if you can call them that, are the ones on the adjusting screw on the left side of the carbs. Be sure the screw areas are very clean! You may have to take them apart and clean the "hole" where the verticle shaft goes through with a small round brush used for cleaning holes. Lubricate with only thin oil such as sewing machine oil or 3-in-one oil. Many guys put springs on the choke linkages and those only add addition wear to your parts plus make the choke harder to pull out. A better way is to place small springs, such as those that come in ball point pens, on the cable. This is the cable part that is between the carb mount and cable adjusting nut at the end of the cable. The springs will not increase wear on your carb shaft parts!
Patrick

Mark, The shaft that I referred to is MOSS item #152 that needs removed and cleaned so that it slides easily in the "hole". The small springs will go in the cable that the choke knob controls. There was an article about this in one of the Nat'l Mags(I think).
Anything that does not pull directly "in-line" with the cable will exert sideways force which is not good on the carb parts, IMHO. I don't know what MOSS sells for springs and how they are supposed to be mounted, but the ball point pen springs will do the job and the pens are FREE.
Patrick

 

[Keoke]

Mark,
I have return springs. Moss catalog for the BJ8 carb shows the jet housing assembly (item 20) and the choke cable stop (item 138). There is a small hole in the end of the cable stop. The top of the spring attaches there. The other end of the spring attaches to a small hole on the inside of the wheel well for the forward carb. For the back carb the hole is in the frame piece that has circular holes. The springs on mine are about 6 inches long. I am not sure if a generic spring will work. Moss does not show the spring. You might try British Car Specialists. I personally think a generic spring would work. You just need to get them strong enough to return the choke cable.

Yep!!! You absolutely right and properly adjusted you ain't gonna wear nothin out---Keoke- :hammer:

 

[tahoe healey]

And, how often is the choke used that could cause any significant wear?

 

[Keoke]

Yeah TH, that was a very good thought :thumbsup:---Keoke

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

And, how often is the choke used that could cause any significant wear?

Not sure about people up "North" using their chokes, but down here in Texas(and other hot spots, we don't need chokes.
Patrick

 

[Cottontop]

Yep everyone...with HD carbs should have choke return springs.

Hmmmm.... Now you have got me wondering..... I have 4 HD-8s and because we are in Texas, at first, I was not going to choke any of them.

Then I thought that I could fairly easily fashion a choke for 2 of them. Because they are 2 & 2 on opposite sides if the engine, choking all 4 would be a mechanical nightmare to do and would probably not be necessary in our climate. My cable will not be the normal spiral wound wire around a central wire, but a motorcycle type cable ending up with a teflon sleeve over a multi-strand cable.

Pulling a choke cable even for 2 will require a SIGNIFICANT amount of pull (~20#). I can't imagine choking 3 or all 4.

After I choke 2, the levers ALWAYS return to the stop. Why are return springs necessary, or are they?

Tim

 

[Keoke]

After I choke 2, the levers ALWAYS return to the stop. Why are return springs necessary, or are they?

Well Tim, this will depend on the overall friction in the system, which in turn probably depends upon how well the owner maintains his system or how kink free the cable installation was. In high humidity climates I would expect that the primary and secondary choke cables would require considerable maintenance and lubrication to keep the cables free. OTOH,there probably would be a lesser amount of maintenance required using the return springs.

ON multiple carburetor setups the choke cables are generally route to the carbs using a relay lever which reduces the load on the operator.--Keoke

 

[hmsevans]

Thanks To all
Need to add a few Springs.
I will post the finished Resto soon
Mark

 

[Goldie]

I have owned my BJ8 since 1969. I was stationed in Long Beach CA and took the car to the local British Leyland dealership for a tune up. They installed a pair of long springs between the choke arm and the frame to return the choke lever when not engaged.. I still have one of them in my stash of old parts. I removed them during my restoration several years ago. Now I get out and manually make sure the choke is off when the car has warmed up. The design of the cable block assembly on the firewall is a faulty design. It works fine to pull the choke on but it doesn't return the choke to normal when the choke is disengaged. That block assembly needs to clamp the ends of the cables with a split design that compresses the cable ends. I may try to add small springs from ball point pens next time I play around with the carb adjustments.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... I may try to add small springs from ball point pens next time I play around with the carb adjustments.

You may have a better result, but when I tried that the springs just buckled; i.e. just curled up. No help.

 

[AUSMHLY]

A better way is to place small springs, such as those that come in ball point pens, on the cable. This is the cable part that is between the carb mount and cable adjusting nut at the end of the cable. The springs will not increase wear on your carb shaft parts!
Patrick

Right on Patrick! I tried ball point pen springs, and as Bob mentioned, they buckled. Stronger springs are available at your local hardware store. I added a washer to both ends for more contact area. If needed, adding additional washers helps get compression where it works best for the spring you use.