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Those open slot intakes are a pain. I had one in the mid 80's. I put a stainless steel shim gasket on top of the manifold to seal off the exhaust gas from getting to the carb base and a thick insulating conventional gasket on top of that. That helped. Yours looks like it could still roast through the gasket but hard to see from the picture. I was running a Qjet but the Holley could be getting heat cooked too.
What I do now is block the heat riser passage completely with a thin strip of stainless steel slid down between the 2 center intake bolts on the drivers side to completely block off the exhaust heat riser passage. It goes against the head and slips in behind the gasket. Only the drivers side is blocked so you still use a choke on the intake manifold. If you still have the EFE flapper valve on your exhaust manifold it needs to be wired open (or removed ) to do this. back off the intake bolts a bit first. Slip in a stainless steel shim down between the head and the intake gasket and tighten it back up.
