Rochester/Edelbrock Carb and Vacuum Questions

[rharris]

I have a few questions on the Rochester carb set up. What is the electric piece in picture 1? I have read that it is possibly an AC solenoid that picks up the rpm's when the AC is turned on. My truck never had AC.

In picture two, I assume that is the electric choke.

Also in picture two, I assume the vacuum line is for the transmission.

When I install the edelbrock, I was planning on using the same manifold port for the transmission. My charcoal canister is cracked and I would like to bypass it. The plan is to run PCV to big port on carb, and the distributor vacuum to the drivers side small port (non-egr) and cap the passenger side small port on the carb. This may be dumb a question, but here goes - can I tee the pvc and carb line to tie in the fuel vent line? It is currently laying underneath the canister. That is the port that cracked off the canister.