Click the photo for a larger version.  As you can see the cable itself hooks around a little post and about 3 inches to the right of that is the clip that secures the sheath to the assembly.  This clip comes off with a phillips head screwdriver and aside from the rather uncomfortable angle you have to reach up under the dash it’s not a big deal to remove.  You’ll probably also notice on mine that the black plastic surrounding the sheath has broken and separated.  See how there’s no black plastic where the phillips head clip is?  That’s why my choke cable was moving all over the place.

I went to Napa and bought a new choke cable for $10.  I got a 6′ cable because I wasn’t sure how long I’d need and figured I would be safe.   I pulled the choke cable out of the new one since I just needed the sheath itself.  The new cable had a sheath that wasn’t covered in plastic but it was the same size and my Volvo cable fit just fine inside it.  I did have to trim the new sheath to get it to be the right length and this took some trial and error.  I didn’t measure it when I finished (sorry!) but I’m guessing it was probably about 5′.

Unfortunately (like an idiot) I dropped the clip that holds the choke cable sheath to the carb.  It fell to the ground and I couldn’t find it.  So right now it’s being held on with a set of vice grips until I can stop by the hardware store and pick up a screw clamp or something.  Nice and shiny!

The other end (under the dash) clipped on nicely and after adding some silicon spray to the inside of the sheath it’s really smooth and doesn’t move around!  In the end I found it was a lot easier to just replace the choke cable sheath and not the whole cable.  If your cable is in good shape and you have issues with it moving around like I did just go for this $10 fix.  Hopefully it lasts another 40 years!

Here’s what the frayed end of my old cable looked like:

Now I can control the choke without having to open the damn hood and hold the sheath with my hand while I adjust it.  That was such a pain in the ass (as well as embarrassing).  It’s never cool to have to routinely open the hood of your car in order to get it started.

After reading up in the Chilton book I learned a bit more about the charcoal canister in my car.  Pictured below, it apparently filters fumes from the gas tank and carbs so that there’s not a lot of gas fumes floating around when the car is running.  It pulls right out and is easy enough to disconnect.  The filter in the bottom needs to be replaced about every 45,000 miles according to Chilton – mine obviously needs a new one.  The whole canister may also need to be replaced – you can’t refurb them.  I’m not sure if the engine will run without it?  Without a clear vacuum diagram I don’t know where the hoses go anyway.  It looks like just a little detective work should be enough.

Charcoal Canister – hose on the right is connected to the fuel tank for capturing gases?

Crumbling filter and the bottom of the canister

Saturday afternoon I got a bit more done.  I worked on the choke and carburetor linkage to try to free those up.  The choke is really stuck with gunk.  After working PB Blaster into all the springs and wiggling it by hand for more than an hour I finally got the choke to move and the carb linkage to move smooooothly.  The gas pedal goes down easy and I could hear the valves on the engine side of the carbs opening up.  It’s close!  I was able to open the choke with the manual release inside the car but it was tough.  I think the metal cable is sticking inside the rubber tubing of the choke cable.  Next time I’ll spray some silicon in there to grease it up.

This is the pretty picture of the choke and carb linkage before I cleaned it.

For my own future reference (and because I wish I’d found a photo like this online before I started figuring mine out) here is a poorly edited version of the same photo above.  Clicking it will open it in a new window and it’s a big file – hopefully you can make out some detail.

Yellow = valve between the carb and engine
Purple = carburetor linkage
Green = choke assembly
Red = choke cable