MGB & GT Forum

I am wits end with this water auto choke on my 80 B. I was almost ready pull the string on Moss's single carb conversion. But decided to get opinion on the Manual choke conversion. Would appreciate your opinions from those of you who. have done it on the ZS Carb. Reading the instructions and watching Moss's video on the conversion seems a little fiddly. I come from the era where you pull the handle start the car and when warm push the handle in. I know times have changed. Electric choke weren't much better.

Years ago when I still had the ZS on the car, I too got sick and tired of the water choke. As I recall changing over to the manual choke was not that bad a job. I'd recommend it for sure.

I am in California and this is a Federal emissions so there is not much I can do about changing Carbs. It did pass smog last month though with half a Catalytic Converter but all the other equipment i there an working all it had to do is meet 80 Federal emission requirement. The choke makes it hard to start cold and doesn't full release after warming up sometime it idles at 850-900 rpm and other times at 1000-1200 RPM. just tire of it.

I too fought that Z/S water choke set up on MANY RBB's over the years mostly because it was "as original".
And when I finally gave up on "recalibrating" them and swapping them out for the manual choke set up on B's that would not stop running rich all of the time, it immediately solved that issue 90% of the time, and if not, let me move on to fine tuning the needle height , and sometimes actually having to replace a worn needle that even the height adjustment could not lean the carb out enough on.

IMO, relying on a 45+ year old bi metallic spring and it's linkage, (even adjusted per the manufacturer's instructions) to sense the coolant temp and regulate the mixture properly when cold (or hot),is a waste of time (for me at least).

As far as the Moss kit that you are thinking of buying, I found it very cheaply made and kind of fiddly. I recommend you source the more robust NBM brand kit, which is what I always use.
I usually get them used online when needed, but I think Carb guru Joe Cuerto offers them new
Good luck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-04-27 08:40 AM by psksks76.

Sorry, I just realized that you have no choice apparently in California but to keep the original set up intact.

I went to the manual choke on my '80 B with the single ZS back in 2007. Great choice! From pulling and reinstalling the carb a few times, the end of the cable got frayed, so I replaced it with a new one from Moss a year ago and it works great. At 81 years old, the hardest part of the installation was getting in and out of laying under the dash to feed the cable thru the hole in the firewall.

Steve know what you mean I will be 82 in September

I get to join the club on Tuesday, I turn 80. Not looking forward to being under the dash trying to track down a parasitic draw.

Think I am going to pull it and send it to Dave in Utah and have him go through the whole thing. Joe Cuerto doesn't seem to be in business as the going to his website send to another site I looked around and there are none of those kits available. I think rebuild the carb just to make sure there are no other issues at 89 K mile might be a more prudent thing spending way to much time on the card while there are other thing that need looking after like rear brakes, rear suspension bushings, moving rear muffler so hand brake cable isn't rubbing on if, Falcon big bore exhaust installed by previous owner just need to slide muffle toward rear about an inch, lucky not welded. So not having to deal with car will allow me to take of other things while it's gone.