Only had about 15-20 minutes today to work on things. I put some markings on the choke before I adjusted it. I then rotated counter-clockwise and felt light spring tension. The choke's original position was basically at the end of the spring tension...so basically no tension. I did this while getting someone else to hold the throttle at around 50%. This was done with the vehicle off, ignition off, etc. You can see from the photos below that I moved it quite a bit. I tightened everything down and tried to start the vehicle. No change, same multiple-crank sequence needed to get the car running.
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I then loosened the clutch while idling with no throttle engaged. Turned the choke back and forth to see if I could hear any difference in the idle, couldn't hear anything. So I rotated the choke back to its original position (left photo) and tightened everything back down.
As a side note, the vehicle seems to have now developed a permanent charge/battery light. Never had this issue before. I keep the battery on a 0.5 amp trickle charger most of the time cause the vehicle isn't driven much right now. Don't think that'll cause any issues. The only other work I've done since the last time the vehicle was started is (1) replaced the blower motor, which now works without squealing, (2) remove, clean, and replaced the fan speed adjustment switch, and (3) giving a few hammer taps to the blower motor relay on the side of the airbox where the motor is. Was having an issue where specifically the high fan speed wouldn't work and figured out it was probably the relay in the picture below, so I unmounted it, left it plugged in, gave it a few taps with a small trim hammer, and ta-da, my high fan speed worked again.
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The only other thing that's weird is that I started the vehicle today without the airbox, vent tubes, etc. But I'm hoping that doesn't affect my charging system in any way, or else I clearly don't know anything about these vehicles. I checked the voltage on the battery when it was running and it read 12.45v to 12.43v, it didn't seem to be consistently decreasing. I do not know what the output voltage of these alternators is supposed to be...I assume 13.6v to 14.2v or something like that? I tried back-probing the largest red-wired connector on the rear of the alternator, and the other side of the multimeter went on the (-) post of my battery, and it also read the same ~12.45v. I don't think my alternator welt from perfectly fine to dead overnight, not driving it. So I assume there's some sort of relay or connection that's a bit messed up and isn't allowing the vehicle to charge from the alternator? Does anyone know the specific criteria for the charge/battery light to be on? Is it as simple as "if voltage under X, turn on light", or is there more to it?
My apologies, I know this question is a bit of a diversion from the original discussion in this thread, but I figured it's still in the electrical/ignition section of the forum so it may be nice not to flood the forum with new threads due to my own incompetence. Thanks for the help so far, everyone. I hope I have a bit more time tomorrow to review some past comments and figure out some more of these suggestions. I am starting to think that this is a case of the fuel just leaking back into the return as well as evaporating, especially with how there don't seem to be any issues with the vehicle while running and idling (aside from this new annoying charge/battery light).