I took my carb off my recently purchased 1980 rx7 12a engine to rebuild. I was surprised there was no base gasket under the carb even though there were some in my carb kit. With the carb off, I lifted the black plastic plate with vacuum hoses attached, and there was no gasket there either. Did the previous owner or someone leave them out? I found one that matches the carb, does one also go between the black vacuum plate and the manifold? Thanks Gary

 

If you look closely they are there. They appear nearly molded into the base plate. Removing them can cause irreparable damage to the base plate. I recommend leaving the base plate alone. I attempted to remove them once and ruined the sucker. I've also got cars in where people have ruined the base plate by scraping the gasket and have attempted to use a silicone sealer to repair the damage. This only caused fuel seepage and poor sealing.

 

Don't use the gaskets, needles or seats in the rebuild kit. Also don't mess with the float levels unless the fuel is not at the middle mark in the sight glass. The gaskets are permanently attached to the carb baseplate and the needles and seats in the kits are trash.