Locking Choke

Original Bugeye choke knobs were never locking. We like these T handle assemblies, they twist to lock and are easier to operate. In particular, you can lock the choke during the first cold startup, and reduce the choke setting and re-lock it each time your car warms up a little more. This makes the choke a lot more user-friendly.

If you are building a concours car, this won’t work, but for everyone else, this is a nice upgrade that still looks “British.” 

Outer cable housing is 41.5 inches long. Inner cable is 48 inches long. This assembly is longer than the stock cable and housing. 

Restorers Note: Sometimes these cables need to be cut to length, Make sure you have a nice fair curve from the firewall to the carburetors. Make sure to double check that the nose is not hitting the cable housing when you close your bonnet, otherwise, the choke will actuate once you close the front of the car. If you cut the cable, make sure to remove the ferrule on the end first, and reinstall the ferrule on the freshly cut housing end. 

RESTORER'S NOTE 2: Almost every dash we have seen has been modified in some way or another but should you still have an unmodified dashboard in your car, you will need to enlarge the hole in the dashboard to install the slightly larger outer housing of this choke assembly. 

INSTALLATION NOTE: The hole necessary for the installation of the t-handle locking choke is 1/2”, which is slightly larger than the factory choke cable hole, which measures roughly .10” smaller. Typically, this hole is drilled prior to the application of dash vinyl, but in the instances in which we have had to cut the hole with vinyl already stretched, here’s what we do:

1) Using an Xacto knife or similar implement, trim the vinyl around the choke cable hole to an area just larger than the hole necessary for the t-handle. There is a flange on the mounting surface for the choke cable that measures in at about 3/4 of an inch so there is a little leeway here. Measure twice and cut once!

2) Our dashboard restoration tech generally uses a hole saw to do the drilling, but any way you feel comfortable drilling a hole out to 1/2”, you do it however you’d like.

3) I know I sound like a broken record, but be careful! Make sure you don’t drill larger than the vinyl you cut out as it could rip the vinyl off and you’ll have to recover the whole thing. You can cut the vinyl a little larger than the 1/2 inch necessary for the hole enlargement as there is a flange that will cover the hole, to an extent. 

Check out the video below for a demonstration of proper choke operation!