I noticed that I have a bit of an oil leak (see pic below, area circled in white). I wiped the oil away, but it is definitely coming from the fastener securing the small oval plate on the top of the manifold. I have an old Edelbrock Performer manifold. I am not even sure what that plate is for and why it is even there. My first thought is to remove the 2 fasteners and possibly reseal the plate with a gasket (not even sure what gasket to use) and/or use sealant. I would also think that I would need to use some thread sealant to seal off where the oil is coming from. Anyone know what this is and whether or not I am heading in the right direction to fix? As always, thanks for the help!

That's a block off plate for the EGR crossover. I don't see how it could be oil, but maybe some unburnt gasses. You can try the red high temp RTV to seal the the threads on the bolts.

That's the block off for the choke tube in the exhaust cross over. As bigchief says, no oil under there. If what you're seeing is not from exhaust gasses, sometimes you get residue from the carb that dribbles down onto the intake

Bigchief and Bob-
Thanks for the guidance. I guess I'll just keep my eye on it.

Is there some sort of seal (gasket, silicone, etc.) that's between the plate and manifold that I will need to replace? I am just wondering if I remove the fasteners and use some form of sealant on them, would I also need to do the same with the plate.

There should be a gasket. If it is leaking you should be hearing a bunch of exhaust noise.

I get sludge that dribbles from my carb onto my intake. I think the gas leaks out slowly and evaporates leaving a residue that dribbles down.

1. If you were to contact Edelbrock, I'm fairly confident they would be able to get you a replacement gasket.
2. It would be a very easy gasket to make from sheet gasket material by making a cardboard template. The old school method is to put the carboard over that raised "island" on the manifold and you create the outline in the carboard by tapping around the perimeter of the "island" with the ball side of a ball peen hammer.

Bob- I haven't noticed exhaust noise. The next time I fire the car up, I'll be sure to take a closer look to see if I am getting anything dribbling down from the carb.

Thanks again for the help.

Sal- Good idea on contacting Edelbrock for a replacement. And funny that you should mention the part about making a gasket. I was doing a search on YouTube a while back about gaskets and I actually saw a pretty good video on the method you described. Thanks again for the guidance.