First weekend goal: install choke, lower ride-height to somewhat normal levels

It was only last weekend that I picked up this beast of a 1971 Chevy Suburban. As I've mentioned, it's friggin' huge. I've driven it around some, and I don't mind the Hugger orange color, or the rust holes so much. I'm not easy to embarrass... but the 35" tires and the massive lift kit is just a bit much for me. Plus, with that tire/lift combination, the Sub doesn't fit in my garage. So, on my first weekend with this project, my goals are these: get the carburetor choke working, and lower the height down to at least somewhat normal levels.

I started with the choke, since being able to start the truck and move it around would be helpful. It's got a 4-barrel Holley carb in it, and it looks like the entire choke assembly is broken off. I see an orphaned ground-wire connection that makes me think this originally had an electric choke on it, but it's hard for me to tell.


As it sits, I have to start the Suburban with the choke closed... keep it running for half a minute or so... shut it off (or let it die)... pop the hood and place a spring/clip on the choke plate to keep it open... close the hood and start the car again. It does a warm start no problem, but getting going in the morning is a bummer.


It's about $55 or so to get an electric choke kit, which isn't a big investment, but right now, all I need is the bare minimum to make this thing easy enough to move around. Working a manual choke is no problem, so I picked up a $10 cable choke kit from AutoZone.


Since all of the choke hardware is broken off of this old carburetor, I had to figure out just how to mount this cable, but I got something rigged up, and it works just fine. Here, I have to pull the lever to open the choke, and push it in to close it, which I think is opposite of how it's supposed to operate, but it gets the job done.

Here's T and I up on the winch bumper working on it. As ugly as it is, that giant bumper makes a great platform for working under the hood.



So, now we're operational, and I can start this thing up whenever I want. More on the lift/lowering to come...