34 DMSA manual choke setup/tuning

[squealingtires]

With much help from everyone on this board I've finally got the '74 Spider running pretty good. I've driven about 600 miles over the last few months and I'm happy with the drivability once the car is warm but as the weather begins to cool off in Ohio I've found the car doesn't run very good while it is cold and warming (spitting/sputtering and lean-surging in 1st gear) so I think the choke setting need to be adjusted. I don't have much understanding of manual choke setting so don't worry about offending me with some obvious advice. So my specific needs are:

Starting/Initial Run/Driving during warmup. I need to pull the choke all the way out to get it started (along with a couple accelerator pumps before turning the key). I've verified that the plates are fully closed and the engine usually starts within 1 second and then races around 2400 RPM with this full choke setting. Once its running I can bring the RPM down but while driving I get the sputtering during initial throttle cracking/acceleration for almost all but the maximum setting. Any advice or general guidelines during the warm-up?

Choke pull-off: Aside from the choke knob position, I think the choke pull-off is the only other setting. Is there a recommended choke-plate gap or number of turns for the screw? I'm thinking that maybe the pull-off gap is too big which is causing the engine to race under full choke.

If anyone can explain the normal operation of these parts it would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

[Dawgme85]

Been awhile since I used a manual choke, but it sounds like your idle speed under full choke is a bit high. You should be able to adjust it to where it idles around 12-1300 RPM, or so, under full choke. Once the engine starts with the choke, you should be able to push it in slightly, where it should run for a few minutes while the engine warms up a bit, then begin pushing it in more and more as the engine warms up to operating temp, at which point you can fully open the choke for normal operation.
LeRoy