Just now, not more than 10 minutes ago, I got Bazza's 318 fired-up, for the first time in over 2 years! No vacuum hoses are connected (everything is plugged), and I haven't even looked at the timing yet, but I need some advice.
During initial start/crank it backfired on me, and I got a puff of white smoke out of the holes in the choke heater. Once I adjusted the distributor and got it to run I noticed a pretty good exhaust leak at these same places (video):
I removed the carb, and this heater, when I had the engine out, and the gasket is brand new. Don't recall the condition of the "bowl" underneath, and I'll have a look at that after I set the timing, check oil and transmission fluid levels, etc, etc.
I'm not a Mopar guy, but common sense tells me there shouldn't be an exhaust leak here, so what should I look for when I tear into this again?