The gasket being damp is a good sign of a warped carb
That's not unusual for the Rochester B. Seems about 50% of them I've ever seen, including the one that was on mine, was either warped, cracked, or both.
Personal opinion, get e rebuild kit and overhaul the Carter. Do it yourself so you know it was done right. I went through a similar problem with reman Carters from Tomco. Not only did they not perform correctly, but they weren't even a matched pair! Seems some dufus working for them stuffed a Ford spec carb in a Chevy spec box. I ended up dumping both Carters and swapped to a pair of salvage yard IH spec Holleys that I overhauled and matched up myself. Was far cheaper than remans, and they run far better.
