The big spring keeps them closed but from your post I read the piston is stuck? I wondered about the seal as the whole base of the piston is a rubber seal and mine have an imprint in them so I soldered up the choke jets. It didn't make any difference to my AFR.
This is the majority of parts (minus the top plate) after an hour of degreasing. Be interesting to see how much cleaner they will get after the ultrasonic:
A few posts back I was going to suggest you throw them away and get some good ones but they're looking a lot better now!
I think they are worth saving. Got nothing to lose trying. The other is perfectly fine so will give it a lighter resto. Spoke to Dellorto today (when I say Dellorto I mean Eurocarb in the UK btw) and they suggested leaving well alone with the choke parts stuck in place. Just put the spring back when setting down the top plate and refit the blanking plate.
Probably best to leave well alone, if they're gunged up (assuming the cold-start circuit isn't permanently jammed on - worth checking!) Just stuff some blanking plates over them.
I don't. I do know it has it's own emulsion and jet but I've never had the lever that operates it. My only interest has been to ensure they're not working. Doesn't the "good one" move either? If they both look the same through where the cover plate fits you could probably assume they're off.
My Dells actually came with the levers/connections. Bit of a long cable run for a choke lever on the dash, tho'
Who needs chokes anyway, the heads are hot enough to stop farting in 30-60 seconds even on a very cold day. That reminds me (thinking of winter) I need to get a new in-line heater fan to demist the windscreen, the last one melted. I think @DubCat pointed me at a good one but I lost track of what it was.
Cable operated is rather backward though, I thought that went out in the 60's. Even our lowly buses had automatic chokes.
Yes originally it was a 2.5inch one from Demon Tweeks. They've got a better 3inch option now which I think I'm going to get too: https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/revotec-alloy-in-line-blower-fans-991144/
Looks nice but all uses quoted are for cooling and having melted the last one I wonder if it will last. I've just emailed revotec to ask, I'll let you know what they say.
Yes the other one is identical so will leave well alone. I'll post again when it's been through the ultrasonic cleaner.
Oh I love the manual choke on my Moggie Traveller, he literally starts first time, all the time, without fail. Easy.
i had a 1979 Mk4 Cortina that had a manual choke, it wasn't until the Mk5 of 1980 that they switched to an automatic(and that was so crappy it was actually a backward step!). I can't imagine there was too many cars produced after this time with a manual choke though, probably only cheap small cars such as Minis and boggo Fiestas I would guess.