Is it normal for our cars to smell pretty nasty? My friends say they can't drive behind me because my car's exhaust smells so strong. They obviously have newer cars. Even when I pull into a parking I smell the rich exhaust. Smells like there is a good amount of unburnt gas. I've even got some backfiring here and there. So I'm wondering if the exhaust will always smell strong no matter what or will I need to mess with the carb a bit and lean it out some?
If it smells that strong you're probably running to rich and the carburetor needs to be adjusted. You can by some fuel additives that make it smell sweeter. Grape, cherry, root beer and lots of others.
LOL . . . good one!! I can just see Febreze running a commercial advertising something for our cars to smell better.
Mine used to run a bad exhaust smell. Things to look at that I encountered were valves that are bent or not sealing good and running rich. The bad valves were stinkier than the rich. The running rich made it stink, the valves made my eyes burn and had to air out the garage with shop fans for an hour before I closed the door. Hope that helps.
It shouldn't smell. Could be the carb or could be the timing or valves not closing. A vacuum test will point you in the right direction
thats what id say. if you were tuning on it in the winter, thats why. the colder, more dense air would require a rich mixture. the hotter dryer air in the summer doesnt need all that fuel to burn right.
I just had the same problem. Popping out the exhaust. Smelly exhaust. Sounds kind of racey but it was the poorly tuned carb that was the problem. too much fuel not enough air. I founf the idle screws to be 1/4 open on the fuel and the air to be completely closed off. By backing out the air screw allows more air into the system. Think it's about where it should be. 1 1/2 turns out on air a bit less on fuel. It settled the popping right down and no more smell. Idles well.
ok one more thing to do tomorrow. Gonna adjust the carb. Now as for checking whether the valves are seating properly. . . what's the best way of doing that? Should I do a compression check on the cylinders?
use a vacuum gauge for both jobs. Adjust the mixture to get your highest vacumm posible. This will also be your smoothest idle. I turn mine back in to lean a bit till it starts to drop or stumble then just a hair back to rich to smooth it out. It its a holley you'll get good at this. if you have a valve problem the vacuum will be very erratic.
thanks darren, I happen to have a vacuum gauge so it'll come in handy. The carb is an edelbrock but I'm sure I'll figure it out
Thats a cool animation. Just dont forget guys that your cam specs come into play. Luckily my last Mav didnt have power brakes
