Hi all and thanks in advance!

I had my 1989 firebird formula for two years now, and I'm love with the thing! It is a 5.7 V8 and performs lovely and pulls like a train! However I get a strong smell of fuel in the cabin, sometimes worse than others.

I recently noticed that there are two pipes under the passenger side, next to the oil filter that have been cut and folded. The pipe sits above the exhaust but I cannot see clearly where it wonders off too.

Does anybody know why the previous owner may have done this? Is this a known performance thing with these cars? Could this be linked to the issue with the smell of fuel?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Pictures would help a lot

 

It's the hard line that connects the smog pump to the converter. Why would somebody cut and pinch this? Is there a benefit?

 

A crude way of eliminating the smog system.

 

Are you sure they go to the cat/AIR system? Some of these cars had factory oil coolers and they may be the old coolant lines. The adapter for the cooler may be long gone.

 

Pretty sure. I'm not a mechanic by trade but I can't see what else they may be. I need to learn more about how the system is meant to work so I can find out what the hell is going on. Could this be the cause of the gas smell in cabin?

I would take it to a mechanic but there are not many on this side of The pond (uk) who will work on these cars....

 

If your AIR pipes are still connected to the exhaust manifolds and then still hooked up the the Smog Pump, but the line is cut at the Cat, you COULD POSSIBLY, just reaching here, be pumping exhaust into the engine compartment then into the cabin. If the connection at the Cat is not crimped well enough, you COULD POSSIBLY be blowing exhaust out the crimped tube and it finds its way up into pass. compartment...........

Just throwing ideas out there

 

I would tend to agree with Bob88 here. Might be a stretch, but it's about a 1/2" metal tubing?

 

Next to your oil filter? The oil cooler lines are metal. I just removed the oil cooler from my moms. They rot.

Is this a right hand drive or left hand drive car? You say passenger and most of us think of the starter side. Oil filter side is definitely the oil cooler lines