thats the fun with these things mate you will always be under the hood, it can be frustrating at times, but then when she fires up and you take her for a blast down the road its all worth it (until the next time!!!)
ticking away the moments that make up a dull day, you fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
no is the earth strap from engine to body good (as well as the battery to body)
throttle cables sometimes snap because they end up carrying the current back to the body and hence the battery when the engine earth strap gets gnarly and too resistant
obviously if the throttle cable was a fat as the earth strap no issues
but its not so it quickly heats up and melts through.
the engine is on rubber mounts so the only route back is via earth strap or throttle cable (metal eye on carb to metal eye on peddle) or via the coolant matl block conductive coolant to metal radiator on body)
rubbish earthing of the engine means you can get really low current flow at the coil which makes the engine run like a bag of spanners
it can also result in the engine earthing through the coolant and the radiator which eventually causes electrolysis of welsh plugs and the solder that holds on your bottom and top radiator tanks
hence water leaks or a pile of bits that used to be a radiator
god I can be a miserable sod
lets hope its just a sticking choke
If the car has stood for a while check that earth strap
engine to one of the K frame bolts
undo both ends wire brush and spiky washer put it all back bit of spludge of vasaline on each end....good for another 30 years or until you next clean the engine bay
Dave
The Greater Knapweed near the Mugwort by the Buckthorn tree is dying