If I recall correctly the wire to heat the choke would have come from the "S" stator terminal on the alternator.
That choke spring setting is a set once setting , but will cause the engine to flood if it never heats the choke heated coil I suspect that was a problem for them and they backed it off so the choke would be fully open and caused a cold starting problem. I would consider trying to do a better installation where everything was set to work as designed.
Fabricating all kinds of brackets for the choke and throttle can be done, but why I say that is , how do you plan to attach a cable to the choke linkage , there is no provision to do that.

With your background and training, I would definitely consider up dating the old engine set up to a few years later and consider that a real accomplishment.
The people that installed the present carburetor most likely had limited knowledge and did what they thought was OK.. You can do this !

 

The main reason that I started this is to identify the carb. As a son of a road construction worker, that grew up in a Sandhills ranch, I'm not familiar with T-birds. Everyone that my parents knew or are related can't afford such a luxury item. So, I'm not certain if this is a T-bird carb. If it is such a rare carburetor then it really should go back onto a 68-69 model. Plus it really makes this engine suck the gas. I retrieved a van for a friend, round trip was about 120 miles. Top speed is around 50 mph. Anything over that the 4 bbl opens up and the engine is screaming. I left on a full tank and when I got back, I knocked on the bottom of the gas tank and it sounded empty. You're right about hooking up the electric choke, it's a simple wiring to the secondary side of the ignition switch. Or get a manual choke conversion. Which would have the necessary piece to hook up the manual choke. I've done this on carbs that never worked right with the electric choke. But, this engine doesn't need this huge of a 4bbl. Plus, the shade tree mechanic that slapped this on did just that. I can tell by how the foot feed works. He also left the wire cables for the manual choke and hand throttle. The engine will have better efficiency with the proper sized carb. Not that I'll get good fuel mileage but, the engine will be working easier. Plus I enjoy figuring out how to get things like brackets built that look professional. Especially now that I only have one bad arm left. When the hydrovac went out I found out that I had the one style that was no longer produced. So, I used one that was the closest match, built a new mounting bracket and reworked the break lines to fit. And, it even looks close to factory. I like to solve problems like this and get things built that look professional and are done correctly, not half-*ssed. Solving problems and making people laugh are 2 of my natural highs! And as my Dad told me 'Every day you don't learn something new is one day you've wasted and can't get back.'