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Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
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| | | | Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 28 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Jul 2011 Posts: 28 | Is there a gasket that goes between the carb and the black plastic piece under the carb (sorry, don't know the name?) Here is a pic: Carb Pic
-Troy
| | | | | Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,733 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,733 | | | | | | Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 9,671 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 9,671 | That's an insulator Troy, acts as a thermal break between
the carb base and the intake manifold.
Denny G
Denny G
Sandwich, IL
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,232 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,232 | FWIW - neither my '54 Assembly Manual nor my '54 Shop Manual shows a gasket on either side of the insulator. I have an original Bakelite insulator on my '54 235 w/Rochester B and I don't use any gaskets. No leaks.
I tried using a gasket on each side of the insulator but it raised the carb up enough to make the carb linkage too short. The throttle wouldn't open completely.
My Bakelite insulator has a soft coating on both sides (maybe old gas). It seals it at the carb base and at the manifold. Reproduction plastic insulators probably don't seal as well - even if you lapped the two surfaces of the insulator. Note: Chevs of the 40s advertises a "Bakelite" insulator, but it's really just plastic like all the other reproductions.
- Lonnie My '54 3104Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt. OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all | | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 | Lonnie,
You are, of course, correct about no gaskets being mentioned in the Shop Manual.
In the purist's tradition, I have tried it with no gaskets. Usually, I have had leaks between the carb and the insulator, so I now always use a gasket there. Most of the time I get away with no gasket between the bottom of a smooth insulator and the top of a smooth intake manifold.
Just in case someone reading this does not know, there are notches in the gasket, one of which should line up with a vacuum hole/port in the base of the carburetor - this notch must line up with that hole in the base of the carburetor.
The original phenolic spacers/insulators had notches in them. Some replacement insulators do not have the notches in them - a correctly orientated gasket must be used with this type of reproduction insulator.
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