no vacuum at manifold vacuum port

[fat tony]

i finally put my carb together with everything cliff recommended.
engine fired right up after bowl filled up.
engine seemed to run really good.
after the engine was up to temperature, i put a vacuum gauge on one of the
lower front (manifold) vacuum ports. nothing. moved over to another lower vacuum
source, still nothing. tried another vacuum gauge. still not reading manifold vacuum
at these 2 ports. is it possible the wrong gasket is installed. not sure where to go from here.

[fat tony]

above carb is 17056263 from a 76 pontiac firebird.
recipe #3 as per Cliff.

[77cruiser]

Those could be ported, try the one above & to the left of the fuel inlet.

[fat tony]

usually anything in the base plate is manifold vacuum. vacuum is directed
from below the throttle plates. the one in the back of the carb is definitley
manifold vacuum. the 2 in the front (pointed out in photo) certainly act like ported vacuum. there's
another port above these and to the left of the fuel inlet that is manifold vacuum.
i guess the problem i'm having is, i thought on the base plate it's manifold vacuum.
if these bottom ports are suppose to be manifold vacuum, is there a problem in the carb, wrong gasket
or something else.
also, i have adjustment with idle mix screws, but the gas fumes are very strong.
distributor is hooked to manifold vacuum port and feels very strong. pulling 16" @ idle.
any suggestions about base plate ports and gas fumes??

[Cliff Ruggles]

Those ports are both "ported" vacuum on that carb number, and may be "delayed" for EGR function.  Open the throttle and see if they start showing vacuum signal.  The correct distributor port is in the main casting, drivers side, to the right of the fuel filter housing....Cliff