‘69 FJ40 - Choke Plate/Butterfly Issue

[NOLACC]

I have an electric carb on my 69 FJ40, believe it’s a Weber (two square butterfly plates).

I wanted to back it up before the freeze. But when I went to start it, no dice. Never had an issue until this year.

When I went to spray some starter fluid in the carb, thinking it was just the cold weather, I realized there was no tension on the plates. No movement at all when pulling the throttle line or physically moving the plates.

Any suggestions? Maybe a clip or spring popped? I didn’t have time to assess, because it was about to snow and was trying to prep… in New Orleans. Yes, 12” of snow in my backyard in New Orleans.

 

[charliemeyer007]

How far do you need to move it? 20, 30 feet. Put it in low range and just use the starter. You can go even farther if you pull the plugs. Very far you need to take breaks to allow the starter to cool.

Not a webber guy. Stick a large handled screw driver in the carb to hold open a little, give it a shot of go juice and see what happens. Don't force things or you will be fixing that too.

Wow ice gators must be easy to catch. Save one for Gretta.

 

[Grayscale]

So, the electric choke seems to have disconnected or become damaged? If you loosen the three screws holding the choke housing, you probably should note the position of the housing, to make it assemble without having to figure out the cold-start setting.

There is linkage on the side of the rectangular butterflies (green arrow). I think it was a hitch pin or an e-clip. I lost that part on mine early on, and a tiny wire makes the connection, iirc. The manual-choke Weber is now on my Nissan Z24 4-cylinder.

 

[NOLACC]

How far do you need to move it? 20, 30 feet. Put it in low range and just use the starter. You can go even farther if you pull the plugs. Very far you need to take breaks to allow the starter to cool.

Not a webber guy. Stick a large handled screw driver in the carb to hold open a little, give it a shot of go juice and see what happens. Don't force things or you will be fixing that too.

Wow ice gators must be easy to catch. Save one for Gretta.

Hahaha it was insane. Thanks so much for the info… Just to get a better idea, this was within the first few hours!

Don’t know how the gators did, but the deer and ducks definitely hunkered down.

 

[NOLACC]

So, the electric choke seems to have disconnected or become damaged? If you loosen the three screws holding the choke housing, you probably should note the position of the housing, to make it assemble without having to figure out the cold-start setting.

There is linkage on the side of the rectangular butterflies (green arrow). I think it was a hitch pin or an e-clip. I lost that part on mine early on, and a tiny wire makes the connection, iirc. The manual-choke Weber is now on my Nissan Z24 4-cylinder.

View attachment 3822326

Awesome, can’t thank y’all enough for your time and info!

 

[NOLACC]

So, the electric choke seems to have disconnected or become damaged? If you loosen the three screws holding the choke housing, you probably should note the position of the housing, to make it assemble without having to figure out the cold-start setting.

There is linkage on the side of the rectangular butterflies (green arrow). I think it was a hitch pin or an e-clip. I lost that part on mine early on, and a tiny wire makes the connection, iirc. The manual-choke Weber is now on my Nissan Z24 4-cylinder.

View attachment 3822326

Do they make a rebuild kit for the weber electric carbs... It's a 69, so i'm guessing its a 38mm? The carb was already installed when I bought truck.

 

[Grayscale]

Do they make a rebuild kit for the weber electric carbs... It's a 69, so i'm guessing its a 38mm? The carb was already installed when I bought truck.

Yes. Redline Weber, or Pierce Manifolds should carry it. Are there two idle-mixture adjustment screws, one on the valve cover side, and one on the driver's fender? If there is just one idle-mix screw it is likely not a 38/38.

 

[NOLACC]

Yes. Redline Weber, or Pierce Manifolds should carry it. Are there two idle-mixture adjustment screws, one on the valve cover side, and one on the driver's fender? If there is just one idle-mix screw it is likely not a 38/38.

I'll check this afternoon and let you know. I really hope its a quick fix, because it's finally going in the shop in about a week for a complete resto... I really don't feel like towing it and pushing it around lol.

Also, does anyone have a good suggestion for an updated fuse box? Just looking for a simple replacement that I can splice in, that uses modern fuses instead of glass. Only doing essential mods, trying to keep it as original as possible... Unless my buddy at LKQ can get me a serious deal on an LS out of a total with low miles, lol. It never ends.

...at least my wife calls them my "adult" legos