On my recently purchased 1987 D150 there was at some point in its life a manual choke installed.

I have read that if you want to change out the 1 barrel carb you may as well go with a two barrel and if you go to the two barrel a change in manifold is also required.

I would like to get everyone's thoughts... the old truck runs fine. It is a bit harder in cold weather but once it is warm she runs remarkably well for a 30 year old vehicle.

Would you just leave her alone? Or try to get the 2 barrel? Am I causing any other issues with this manual choke?

Many thanks!

Two barrel isn't 100% necessary, but is an easy upgrade, will add slightly more power, and you can stay with the base BBD or 2280, or upgrade to a
slightly bigger 2 barrel (easy to find parts for it...). If it is a manual transmission the swap is easier since you don't have to worry about the kickdown linkage
for the automatic.

The manual choke is fine, lots of 60's truck had this installed... the problems that occur is lack of mileage and issues with warm up unless you remember
to pull the choke off while driving off in the cold morning when the engine is warmed up... the manual choke is easy since you don't have to make too
many adjustments to the linkage like the original thermostatic choke, as long as the choke cab lever allows the butterfly to close with a small gap for
start up, and ewhen you open it, it is 100% open.

I'm running manual choke at the moment. I mainly use it to set the fast idle in the morning as my old girl is pretty cold blooded.

My procedure :
Pump a few times to get some fuel in the manifold
Fire it up and feather the gas until she's running without complaining too much.
depress pedal down about 1/4 and pull choke cable out, let off gas, and push choke cable back in.
Fast idle is (usually) set at this point, so I let it sit to get a little warmer before pull away.

1974ish Holley 1945

Both of my slants are set up with manual choke. I wouldn't have it any other way. No fussing with adjustment, just pull the knob and start the car. Push the knob in once it's warmed up. Idiot-simple for myself, the village idiot.