I also found another issue thats helping to heat the carb. I replaced the thermostat with a lower degree one and splashed water on the intake. After the instal , I bolted everything back together and fired her up. Within 5 minutes the water boiled away around the base of the carb which seems to show that the heat cross over passages are not blocked in the intake. So a big help seems to be to block the passages to keep the heat from below the carb. In colder climates I believe you want the cross over open but in Texas I dont think it does me any good. I got the phenolic spacer installed and am diggin it!!!