Fuel System: 1405 edelbrock carb

[willisl55]

I have a V8 that has an edelbrock 1405 4 barrel manual choke carb installed. I would like to convert to a carb with an electric choke as that would work much better here in MD. My question is where do i hook the 2 leads. I would imagine 1 is hot and 1 is ground but want to make sure before I do this and burn something up.

I also want to thank all the members here who have been answering my questions as I undertake restorung my 55 champion that the last owner really butchered. I am still trying to figure out which engine I really have as there are no numbers on the pads front or rear and the only number I can fid is the block casting number which is 535601 with a 3 above the 0. The car ws originally a 6 cyl. so body tag and vin # are useless here.

Lee

[Dick Steinkamp]

You can buy a kit to convert your 1405 to electric choke here...

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-1478



Assuming your car has been converted to 12V...

The electric choke has two wiring connections, one positive and one negative. The negative lead should go to any good engine ground. The positive should go to any circuit that is hot ONLY when the engine is running. DO NOT CONNECT THE POSITIVE LEAD TO EITHER SIDE OF THE COIL SINCE THIS WILL ONLY SUPPLY 6-8V ONCE THE ENGINE STARTS (and not at all if on the distributor side). The positive lead should be used in conjunction with a 10-amp fuse.



Your carb is a 600CFM model which is too big if your engine is a 289 and WAY too big if it is a 259. The car would run better (more responsive, better mileage) with a 1404 (500 CFM). Here is a site to help you select the right CFM carb for any engine...

http://www.4secondsflat.com/Carb_CFM_Calculator.html

A 289 cubic inch engine at 6000 RPM at 85% volumetric efficiency (typical) wants 426 CFM. A 259 cubic inch would want 382 CFM. Bigger isn't better.

Your casting number could be either a 259 or 289. Pull a spark plug and look at the top of one of the pistons. A dished piston = 289. A flat top piston = 259.

[willisl55]

Thanks so much for the info. This will be a big help. Is there any way to tell what year the engine is?

[StudeRich]

The Engine I.D. should not be too hard to at least narrow it down. That casting number tells us that it is a '55 to early '62 partial flow (filter) V8 Block.

If you remove an easy to get to spark plug, crank the engine to get the piston near the top and shine a light in the hole you look for a "Dish" shape or bowl in the center of the piston. If you still can't tell, feel the piston top with a pencil to see if it is smooth and flat or not.

The most common Engine will be the flat top piston 259 or, it POSSIBLY could be a early 1955 224 Engine, but not too likely.

If you find that it has dished Pistons, then you have a 289.
Of course without complete dissassemby to measure the Crankshaft or trying to measure the stroke through the plug hole you are about 98% sure of your findings, but rare cases do happen like, Avanti R1 Pistons or other unusual "Mods".

The year really does not matter, since they are all the same.
You would have a better chance of narrowing that down or knowing the approximate Compression ratio if you check the casting Number on the heads.
It will be a raised 6 (or 7 on '61 & up) Digit number on the center exhaust port.

[willisl55]

Thanks for the valuable info. Looks like I should get a new carb and pull a plug or two. Fuel pump looks like it leaks too so I guess a new electric pump is in order also.