Triumph Repair: 1980 tr7 hard starting

Question
rebuilt twin zenith strongburg carbs, no vacum leakes, new plugs. hard starting- starting fluid used, will start and run good. turn off let set- "hard to start'? help

Answer
Hi Vincent,

Hard to start cold is a common problem with the Stromberg carburetors. There were two different choke systems used on the Strombergs. One used The choke was not a choke per-say, it was an enrichment device. If you have the coolant operated choke mounted on the side on one carburetor it was common to fail, so much that an aftermarket company started selling a manual choke system to replace the auto choke.

If you have the auto choke remove the screws on the outer edge of the coolant unit but don't remove the one bolt through the center of the coolant unit. If the short hoses are not to brittle you can push it aside to see a short lever that the bimetal spring moved to operate the choke. Now you can manually operate the choke while someone starts the engine. This will establish if it is the heating element that is not operating the choke.

If however you have the manual system already installed and they do operate when the choke pull cable is pulled, then you will need to remove them from the carburetors and check that the disk that mates up to the side of the carburetors is spring loaded so as to be forced against the side of the carburetors. There are a series of holes that control the amount of fuel allowed in when the chokes are pulled and often I have found that plate is stuck on it's shaft and not pressing against the side of the carburetor.

Let me know which system you have on the car as many were changed over the years due to the high number of choke failures. Non US versions had SU carburetors on them and they had a different system.

Howard