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On 4 Nov 2003 at 9:52, Kurt Nolte wrote: > I've had it pointed out to me recently that people can tell when I've > been driving, because I smell like a chainsaw motor. I've noticed > recently that there is a bit of a fuel/exhaust smell in the car itself, > and have started to wonder where it could be coming from. Any > suggestions? There are a couple of possibilities. Since you suggest that your car has been converted to carb(s?) then it is likely that the jetting is too rich and this adds the smell of unburned gas to everything around you. Getting the mixture adjusted will help a lot, but this is time consuming, especially if you're looking at converting to a different system. What kind of gas mileage do you get? You should get 22-25 mi/gal in a 71, so if you're much below that, this gives you a hint of how rich you're running. One of the main sources of exhaust leaks into the interior is via leaky seals where the lower heat exchangers plug into the muffler. If these leak, then exhaust gas often gets blown forward and into the heated air side of the heat exchanger. If the heater valves are open a bit then this exhaust finds its way into the interior. This is a common problem, especially with aftermarket exhaust systems, where the ID of the pipes is a bit too large. Finally, some people report that exhaust can get sucked into the interior thru a bad rear door seal. This is most likely to occur if you drive at high speed with a window open, which causes, by Bernoulli's principle, a slight vacuum in the interior. You can test this by closing the window and opening the dash vents, which will create a slight positive pressure in the cabin. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org