Guys, If you have a Rochester B, have you noticed whether your gasket, that sits between the carb's upper section and the middle section, blocks a passageway? I am referring to the choke valve housing ("upper section") aka airhorn, and the choke bowl ("middle section").
In the attached photos
https://plus.google.com/photos/117346175748082124087/albums/6042345673177252273 please look at my choke valve housing and choke bowl, and the gasket that belongs between them that I want to replace. When I was ordering my rebuild kit I noticed that my old gasket seems to be missing a hole opening that would match up to a passageway that goes from my choke valve section to my choke bowl section. Please observe, that at the location on the old gasket where one would expect to have that hole, there is only a dark tan "spot" that reasonably suggests some conflict was occurring there during operation of the carburetor. When I discovered this, I simply assumed that the previous owner had used the wrong gasket. I attributed my poor mpg to this fact.
When I was ordering my rebuild kit from Mike at Mike's Carburetors, I did not see among his available gaskets one that would match up to my carb. Nor have I been able to find this gasket elsewhere online. When I inquired, he seemed surprised to see such a hole layout and said he does not have such a gasket. He said I could just punch this hole in the gasket he would send me. (He wondered whether the passageway was not simply a "casting hole" meant to hold a mold together when producing the carb. However, I pointed out to him that the passageway does have an exit orifice in the middle section-choke bowl.)
So I query anyone here as to whether they have run into this issue. Am I likely correct that blocking this passageway would certainly have a detrimental effect on the operation of the carburetor? I am a novice 'mechanic' but it does not seem reasonable to me that a gasket block a passageway. I have the Manual, but the diagrams in it are not clear enough to ascertain the holes in the air horn gasket. As well, I think I have seen just about every online video for the Roch B and I have pored through online discussions about the Roch B, and find no mention made of this issue. Thank you.
