Fel-Pro Carb Base Gasket surfaces not flat

[Oberon67]

Hi all.

I just ordered a carb-to-manifold gasket from Rock Auto. It wasn't the cheapest one, it's a Fel-Pro. So I get the thing in the mail and look at it, and I see that it's got a hard plastic "grommet" around each bolt hole. Which is fine, except that one of the grommets isn't completely in line with the gasket surface. It's proud on one side by a few thousandths, about the thickness of a piece of notebook paper. That's enough to constitute a vacuum leak.

The gasket is about 5mm thick and made of some hard-resin-impregnated fiber. I may get a piece of fine sandpaper, lay it flat on my table saw, and hone the face of this gasket against the sandpaper until I bring the grommet down flush with the gasket surface. I'm also wondering if application of a little Permatex Aviation sealant would help.

What do y'all think?

[Oberon67]

Trying to see if I can post a pic...

[Oberon67]

[Dead Parrot]

You could try test mounting the gasket and carb and snug things up. The odd ball grommet may self correct under pressure.

[Oberon67]

I could clamp that corner in a vise and see if I could self-correct it before I take my carb off.

[kwmech]

Grommet will center itself up when you install the carb. After you run it through a couple of heat cycles check the hold down bolts again. They have a tendency to loosen up a tad.

[Oberon67]

As it turns out, my carb isn't a DualJet... it's a VaraJet II.

Same-same with regard to the gasket though. I will likely do the gasket swap this weekend, along with swappage of some old dry vacuum lines.

Jeez this truck came with a lot of smog plumbing. It's an '81... what did I expect?