Pan (fuel/drip?) between block and carby - necessary?

[sundaydriver]

Recently acquired an all-original '83 Vacationer wagon (3.3 straight 6) from my grandfather.
Garaged for the last 20+ years. Done <50K kms. Minimal work/maintenance done.

First thing I noticed was a vacuum leak. Found the spot (using some carb-cleaner spray) around the base of the carby, in one corner.

I've made some new gaskets (3) and am in the process of dissolving off one that was fossilized to the plastic mounting block (am currently trying ker-o as don't want to go out and buy abrasive pads etc.) I'm hoping it's one of these and not the 2 (?) that sit between layers of the actual carb.

Anyway, there is a small pan, of some type - I assumed to catch drips/leaks of fuel from carby - mounted between the carby and the engine block (actually, its' between the plastic carby mounting block and the engine block). My questions is, is this really needed? It seems like an unnecessary layer that will only increase the risk of leaks, by adding another fail point. As it is, there are 3 gaskets. removing the pan can drop that to two gasket.

Removing the plastic mounting block could drop that to 1 gasket....?

 

[Immortality]

The plastic block is an insulator (I believe), I'd leave it there.

The little steel drip tray is to keep fuel away from hot exhaust manifold should you have a leak. I've had a leak on our old VK with the same setup and didn't end up with an engine bay fire, I'd call that a win

If those gaskets are original then they are 20+ years old, replace and you should get many years of happy motoring without a worry.

Also, does the plastic block have a hole/slot in it on one side? IF it does I believe it is for the idle circuit. Remove or block this and the idle circuit on the carb does nothing and the engine won't idle.

 

[sundaydriver]

The plastic block is an insulator (I believe), I'd leave it there.
The little steel drip tray is to keep fuel away from hot exhaust manifold should you have a leak.

Thanks very much. I'll leave both in, in that case!

If those gaskets are original then they are 20+ years old, replace and you should get many years of happy motoring without a worry.

There's been a lot of talk about the varajet II being more of a pain than they're worth. Most suggesting a conversion to an XF Falcon Webber? the 34, I think? Not sure if it's a 3.3 or 4.1? Would have to be a 3.3 unless you intended to change over everything else (cam, pistons etc.?) right?

Or something like this.

Also, does the plastic block have a hole/slot in it on one side? IF it does I believe it is for the idle circuit. Remove or block this and the idle circuit on the carb does nothing and the engine won't idle.

There's a a cut-out in the smaller ring - makes it look like a '6' (I actually thought this was meant to indicate the # of cylinders... seemed like too big of a coincidence) - is this the for the idle circuit?
.

 

[Immortality]

Yeah, that's it. I'm fairly damn sure it's for the idle circuit. It stuffed me up once when trying to diagnose a problem, turns out someone had put the wrong gasket on top of the plastic block and blocked off that hole.

Can't comment on the carb swap, thought about it, never did it.