Don't Waste Your Time on a Holley Choke Conversion Kit

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Dejure

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I ordered the kit to swap out my Holley choke for a manual on 5/31/2025, two months ago. They were happy to take my sixty-eight dollars and eighteen cents ($68.18). They sent me notice they were having trouble filling my order they held themselves out as having, so were bumping the ship date farther down the road. Then again. Now I'm told they wouldn't ship until 9/1/2025. Of course, that does not come with a guarantee they won't bump the date yet again.

Holley cannot be a tiny company. Accordingly, you'd think they could stock a couple simple parts that take little room, or warn those who want to go the Holley route it might be a LONG route.

Looks like its back to wiring the truck for an electric choke (only active with the truck running - the previous owner wired it in drain-the-battery fashion - on 24/7), or remembering how I did the simple changes 40 years ago and for a fraction of the price.

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Sad Sack

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I ordered the kit to swap out my Holley choke for a manual on 5/31/2025, two months ago. They were happy to take my sixty-eight dollars and eighteen cents ($68.18). They sent me notice they were having trouble filling my order they held themselves out as having, so were bumping the ship date farther down the road. Then again. Now I'm told they wouldn't ship until 9/1/2025. Of course, that does not come with a guarantee they won't bump the date yet again.

Holley cannot be a tiny company. Accordingly, you'd think they could stock a couple simple parts that take little room, or warn those who want to go the Holley route it might be a LONG route.

Looks like its back to wiring the truck for an electric choke (only active with the truck running - the previous owner wired it in drain-the-battery fashion - on 24/7), or remembering how I did the simple changes 40 years ago and for a fraction of the price.

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Cancel and for the same amount of money can get on Ebay:

 

TotalyHucked

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Yeah Holley got bought out years ago and is now owned by some foreign conglomeration along with a ton of old school hot rodder companies. No surprises in how they operate at this point
 

Sad Sack

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Yeah Holley got bought out years ago and is now owned by some foreign conglomeration along with a ton of old school hot rodder companies. No surprises in how they operate at this point
 

Ricko1966

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Grab a cheap 4 prong relay. Hook # 30 to alternator B+ , hook #85 to alternator exciter terminal( brown wire #1 on alt) hook #86 to ground, #87 to choke thermostat. The alternator will close the relay and provide power to the choke when the engine is running. It's a $5 fix.
 
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Dejure

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Thanks, Rick, however, I wanted to go back to full control for the reason it worked so well for my on 69 step side. For example, with an electric, it's all or nothing. On newer cars, hitting the throttle and relying on the choke to kick in when it was 20-50 below was a crap shoot. Drove my dad nuts that both my old 57 step side and my 69 started on the first crank, immediately, while his new cars cranked and cranked.

Oh, and that is an example of ONE of the few times I love relays (borrowing an amp or so to complete anther circuit with 20 amps capacity that would have overloaded the first circuit). The idea of cutting back on wiring by using relays doesn't sit well with me. I'd rather pay $500.00 for a factory rig than have it packed full of relays.

The only mod I made was to install a micro switch that was activated by a small plate on the backside of the choke knob, to turn on a light warning the choke was on.

The major installation hack I did was, pull the cable all the way out of the wound wire, then feed it back in, as I added molybdenum grease (still have the last half a can, from 40 years ago). This made the choke so easy to operate, I could do it with my pinky finger.
 
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Dejure

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Eastern Washington
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Kelly
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1978
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C15
Engine Size
350
Thanks for the lead, Rustisbest. They just told me the check was in the mail, so to speak. should be here within the week.
 

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