Thanks for your help with the choke-coil thermostat, guys
 

Hello all... just wanted to say thanks to 3tas4me, dataway, Formulabruce, jhein,
unruhjonny, and gto4ben for your help with the problem I was having with the divorced choke-coil thermostat on my '71. Got the right guy to work on it, it's running great now.

So... the guy who rebuilt last year it put on the wrong base gasket for this year and type of Q-jet, which was causing not one but two vacuum leaks. As many of you suspected, this was wrecking the fuel-air mix and causing the smoke and fumes. The guy also had the choke rod on backwards so the action on it wasn't right. Once he got the right gasket on the carb my mechanic thought about putting an aftermarket electric choke on it, but it wouldn't fit under the stock air cleaner and I'm not changing that.

It's tough -- as you've guessed by now, I can do some low-level mech stuff (replacing radiators, carpet, refinishing RII wheels, etc.) but the real motor stuff is beyond my aptitude. What makes that not great is carburetors are one of those things like patching radiators -- it's becoming a lost art. But the guy who did the work this time knew what he was doing, he wasn't just a talker. (Lots of those in the old car racket now, especially in So Cal where I live.)

Anyway -- just wanted to say thanks. This forum is a tremendous resource and I truly appreciate everyone's expertise and generosity.

so many threads go unresolved its nice to know the outcome of an issue someone is having. Thanks for the follow up.

i do more lurking than posting, however i lurk often and i'll 2nd that its nice to see a resolution and i love the thank you to those that assisted...

great job everyone!

One weird thing I didn't mention -- that vacuum leak and wrongly-installed choke rod was making the car start to overheat while idling in traffic, since the fix it's not doing that much at all.