[TR] Fuel smell

[Randall]

> I saw a '3 at a car show that had a fuel shutoff switch in 
> the breather tube 
> that comes off the gas tank and goes below the chassis.   

Mine is just blocked off entirely; has a golf tee driven into the end of the
pipe!  Been that way for over 20 years, ever since I discovered that fuel
was slopping on the ground during left turns with a full tank of fuel.

There is a small breather hole in the center of my gas cap (the part that
actually closes off the tank, not the chrome part you see).  It's been on
every cap I've had, but apparently is not in all of them.  But I'm not
convinced it's required, as the center piece does not fit snugly onto the
spring-loaded post that it rides on.  If you think about how long it takes
to burn a tank of fuel even at top speed, it doesn't take much of an air
leak to match the flow.

I also replaced the short float bowl breather tubes with much longer tubes
that hang down past the frame rail.  The idea was mostly to ensure that a
stuck float valve couldn't dump raw fuel into my paper element air filters
(or down the carb throats), but I think they also help keep fumes from
escaping when the car is parked.

However, if the smell is that strong, I would suspect you have an
unidentified leak somewhere.  A leaking fuel tank, for example, can be hard
to spot because the fuel can lay in the cavity under the tank and evaporates
from there, instead of dripping to the ground.  The jet glands and float
bowl seals are also very prone to leak just enough to wet the bottom of the
carb, without actually dripping.  If you can touch the bottom of the jet, or
the bolt that holds the float bowl, and then smell fuel on your finger, the
associated seal is leaking.  If the car is hard to start after sitting for a
week or so, that's another sign that the float bowls are leaking.

Another place to check is the connector between fuel tank & cap.  If it is
cracked due to age, or loose because someone forgot a clip, it can form a
hard-to-find leak.  On the Stag, I had to resort to pressurizing the entire
fuel system to find it.

-- Randall