Track down a vacuum leak?

[njsteve]

Both. You can't run the car without them or the vacuum leak occurs. They were original equipment. I had the same problem on my 69 350/300 Z11 when I first got it running. I originally installed the gasket without the steel shim on the bottom and it idled at 1200 rpm and ran like crap. Someone gave me the same advice I gave you and voila, it fixed it.

[Dave Rifkin]

Can I get the correct gasket at any auto parts store?

[Salvatore]

Yep. Don't let them make you buy a whole kit for 1 gasket or we will get BBBenny to take care of your lite work with no problem!!

[HEMIBEE]

if the gasket doesnt look to be the problem, go to a chevy dealership and see if they have a smoke machine. i have one at my shop and it is a life saver at times, it produces smoke and you can pump it into the intake or crankcase or exhaust depending on what type of leak you are looking for and you have no threat of a fire from the carb clean. Rich

[169indy]

Z15 I found the following avail from the (IRONIC) Holley catalog
Base Plate, quadra-jet, bore size: 1-3/8" primary, 2-3/8" secondary, thin stainless steel. PART No. 108-20

I had left mine out and trouble shot the eng for a while before figuring out the metal gasket was missing. 6$ back in 1987. As Steve had mentioned the intake charged is fouled with heat riser gases, Soots up the plugs is one indication, in addition to poor under load performance.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[Dave Rifkin]

Aside from the high idle what other symptoms would the lack of this metal gasket create?
My car has very little low end torque; at least it seems like that to me and it just doesn't have the balls that I'd expect from a L46 car.

Once I replace the gaskets with the correct ones; assuming the car has incorrect gasket set, what steps do I need to do? Do I simply adjust the idle speed and I'm good or is that being a bit too optimistic?

[njsteve]

Put the correct gaskets back, then adjust the idle speed, mixture and timing and enjoy the car.