Advice on carb 390 V8 F100 1972 2V

[pickly]

I'm working on my newly purchased 1972 Ford F100 with a 390 V8 with 2V Motorcraft carb. When I got the truck the previous owner had disconnected the automatic (heated choke) and connected a push/pull cable to control the choke plate. I bought it in December and I live in Siberia (Minnesota) so i was doing things here and there as I could to make it work okay. It's been very hard to start when left sitting overnight since the beginning and is even so now with all kinds of tinkering. Now that the weather is warming up I was hoping that the hard start problem would go away since the carb is starting up from warmer temps than -20 below.

Here's my list of my path to insanity:

Replaced points, plugs, wires, condenser
Replaced carb and gasket with a remanufactured one from Holley. The box was from Holley but it's the same type carb as I had.

390 V8
2V carburetor

As soon as I put it on it worked great even on cold starts below zero.
After awhile when stopping at a light or stop sign the choke plate would snap shut and cause the truck to stall. The daily routine from there during blizzards and outright freezing weather was to get out of the truck in the intersection and removed the air cleaner and push the choke plate down to give it some air. Truck would start and run fine until another random stop would create the same situtation.

I messed around with the choke adjustment from rich to lean and back and forth. It seems to work fine until one day it starts again.
So, finally frozen and sick of the choke I disconnected it and connected the manual choke again. I tried every kind of adjustment to the choke spring with the same results. Seems like it's just a crappy design from the start.

In addition, I replaced the points and condenser with an Ignitor electronic ignition. That works great and the truck starts up just dandy when it's been driven for awhile. Even on a warm spring morning 40 degrees or so i still have a problem with a cold start. After 10 or tries the truck will finally start and will sputter to a smooth idle. I pull the cable to close the choke plate until it's barely closed on a cold start and lightly tap the gas.

When I first go out to start my truck when it's been sitting overnight when I turn the key without doing anything it will fire right up. It will idle normally and then die. That's when I have to monkey around with the choke plate and after about 10 tries it will fire up.

So, that leaves me here. Weather is warmer, truck runs fine when warmed up but has a hard time starting after sitting overnight.

Any advice on other things to try besides: reconnecting the choke, installing a block heater, moving from Minnesota, driving the truck into a lake?

In addition, I've tweaked the idle mixture screws and the engine is running great when at idle or driving

[towtruckerfour]

When I first got my F100 from my grandpa when i was 16, it had a manual choke on it. I never could get it figured out so we swapped it for the mechanical type where you turn it to adjust it. It also had a bracket that mounted to the choke that one of the heater hoses laid in so it would warm up the choke as the motor warmed up. Is your timing set right? Just a thought.

[marxtoys]

I plug in the heater if temp is going much below +20 . It's nice going out, having it start right up, switch on the fan and the defroster is already blowing lukewarm.

Stuck 3rd gear to the mainshaft in the Scout a couple years back - driving at 10° with summer oil.