I just removed the rear carb from my Wildcat. I was expecting to find a thin metal heat shield. Instead, I found a thick stamped metal gasket covered with paper. The kit has only paper gaskets. Do I need a heat shield? Are they tough to find? Thanks in advance.
I think it is the stainless steel plate you are thinking of. It is not a heat shield as much as it is protection of the base of the aluminum carb from exhaust gases used to warm the carb base. Look at the pictures on pages 3-9 and 3-10 of your '64 shop manual. On a single 4 bbl nailhead intake manifold you have a groove cut in the carb mounting surface, and some holes, to allow hot exhaust gas to warm the base of the carb. You need a stainless steel plate (not very thick) under the carb base to prevent exhaust gases from eating up the aluminum carb. On a dual 4 bbl intake manifold, the rear carb has the groove but not holes to connect it up to the exhaust stream. In that case, you do not need the stainless steel plate on the rear carb, just a good carb mounting gasket. You only need the gasket on the front carb too. If you do not like the mounting gasket that came in the kit, shop around for a better one. The Victor gasket part number is G14553, if that helps. A thin (or thick) metal plate is not really going to serve as much of an insulator because metal conducts heat so well. Most true insulators are non-metallic. Some guys use insulators to try to keep their carb cooler when they have an engine that runs hot, without fixing the underlying reason for the hot engine, like stuck heat riser valve, bad fan clutch, incorrect ignition timing, etc. The stainless plate is not routinely provided in a carb kit because they expect you to reuse your old one, if you need one on your engine. The AFB was used in a lot of other applications besides the nailhead. Hope that helps.
Jim, that's exactly wat I'm thinking of. Thanks! :TU: Tom, could you please send a PM with the info on these parts? Thanks to you, too.
I just checked a manifold in my shop....there is a exhaust gas groove in the 2x4 manifold, but only on the rear carb. :TU:
OK, that's good to know. See, I don't actually have a 2x4 manifold, so I could only go by the pictures in the shop manual. That's why I pointed him to it. I figured, he has the manifold in front of him and if he sees the groove and 2 holes I'm referring to then he would know he needed the plate.
I didn't read through the post entirely. If your using this on a 2x4 manifold you DON'T need the metal plate. Yes, there is a groove in the manifold but there are no holes on either side of the groove to allow hot exhaust gases to pass under the carb. Tom T.
OOPS. ou: Sorry about that guys! I have the carb openings covered with tape, and didn't look if there were exhaust passages leading to it....I just assumed there were. Wonder why Buick put the groove in there if they weren't going to use it??
I wondered if You could drill the holes and Make the engine get better milage and performance at low speeds.
