Hy guys, in the days when the stainless plates (heat shields) were used there was a base gasket on the manifold, the stainless plate (heat shield) and the carburetor mounting gasket. Without the heat shield the fuel is boiled out of the float bowl. I know this because a friend removed his Qjet and rebuilt it he threw the heat shield and base gaskets into the garbage, next week after the rebuild of the carburetor he installed the carburetor using the one base gasket that came in the kit. He called me and asked me to come over and help him figure out where he went wrong, as the engine would not run for more than a few seconds, when we removed the carburetor and I saw the heat shield was not there I said why had he left it out, he said he didn't see the value or purpose of it. I asked him what he had done with it and he told me he threw it in the garbage, it had been a week so the garbage had been picked up. We had quite a time identifying the part and getting one sent to our local dealership, his car was out of commission till the next weekend. A famous GM engineer (who's name escapes me) once said "parts left out cost nothing and cause no service problems", In other words if the engineers bothered to put a part in a vehicle, it was there for a reason, hope that helps.
