Edelbrock Performer RPM
Do you have the carb sealed away from cold air from outside?
Nope. Car's outside, standard mopar performance air cleaner, functional factory style hood scoops.
How long is warm up? (Ball park will do.)
Between 5-10 minutes usually if it's near freezing. About as long as I need to scrape the ice off. That gets me to 160*, so I'm not worried about the valvetrain at that point and I start driving. The engine acts a little cold blooded for the first half mile, likes it better if I keep the idle a little higher with the peddle at stops signs. After that it's great.
Is the car fully warmed up to operating temps with hot air blowing inside the cabin?
Ish. 5-10 minutes gets me to 160*, I usually have completely hot air once I get to 180* which is another few minutes down the road. Thermostat is a 180*. When it's that cold the thermostat opens and closes as I'm driving because of the 3 core 26" aluminum radiator, and my electric fans never come on. I've actually given some thought to a partial radiator cover like the tractor/trailer guys run. But yeah, it's California so I don't need it enough that I actually came up with something.
You say it dies before the electric choke kicks in? At the risk of sounding stupid and/or insultive, do you pump the gas pedal once before you start it to set the choke?
Yeah I'm not the guy to explain how an electric choke actually works, other than I've been happier with the Holley electric chokes than I have been with anything else, including manual. I pump the pedal twice which activates the choke and high idle, the engine cranks and fires immediately, dies just as immediately, and runs fine on restart. It usually only does that when its below 50*. Above that it fires, then the RPM's drop for a second, then go back up to high idle. My assumption is that it has something to do with how the electric choke actually gets power through the start/run circuit.
And yes, I did say cold. Operating temps still come (relatively) quick even at 32*'s. I only consider 32*'s cold when the summer ends and it dips down there quickly. At 32*'s it is possible to find me fixing cars on my concrete garage floor.
Oh I know I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to temperatures. Where I'm at now usually doesn't see a whole lot of mornings that start much below 30* when I'm firing off the car to drive to work.