I recently moved my car into a different stall in my garage. Good news is yay! It's heated and I can work on it in the middle of winter without losing feeling in my fingers. But I've noticed a very strong gasoline smell every time I open up the door. What's more, my home office is next to the garage, and there's a door between my office and the garage stall. I was working on some photography editing last night, and my office smelled incredibly strong of gasoline as well. To say the least, it bothered my nose quite a bit, and I can't imagine spending a long period of time in there with all those gasoline vapors is at all good for my health.

Is this normal for there to be such a strong gasoline smell from older cars like this? I was wondering if the design of the carbureted engine vs. a fuel injected engine might be why this car has such a strong odor where my other vehicles don't. I looked around my engine and I didn't see any evidence of fuel drips either on my engine block or underneath the vehicle. I don't have any fuel of any kind stored in this stall, and it's entirely walled off from the other two stalls of my garage, so the odor is 100% originating from my car.

I just want to see if there's any other potential causes for this, and if possible, what I can do to reduce it. I think my nose was actually starting to go numb after just an hour at my computer, so I definitely need to do something if I'm going to keep my car parked in that stall and still be able to work in my office. Any insights are welcome, my nose thanks you in advance!

 

No it is absolutely not normal.

Look at the possibility of holes rusted through the gas tank from the inside, from water sitting in there over long periods; broken filler neck joint; the short lengths of hose connecting the tank to the lines that are part of the car; the hoses near the fuel pump; the pump itself.

That's a fire and explosion hazard. I wouldn't leave it parked in there until the cause is clearly found and repaired.

 

Absolutely 100% NOT normal .

I'm pretty sure it was the 1960s when cars began getting so called "evaporative emissions control systems" , meaning specifically that cars so equipped are not allowed (when properly functioning) to release any fuel vapors of any sort .

You have a fuel leak somewhere , be it liquid or vapor , which must be found and fixed . Till then , put the car back in the well ventilated garage bay ....

 

And Sofa beat me to the post , but there it is , two votes for a fuel leak somewhere ..

 

Okay, I didn't think it was normal, but I figured I'd get a second opinion first. Thanks for the reply, at least now I know where to start looking. Just when I thought I was going to work on one project, the car decides to give me a different one instead. Life in the old car club...

 

Cars are like that: they assign you the projects THEY want you to work on, and your own just have to wait.

 

So I've narrowed down the general location of the issue. I have a leak in my power steering and some oil drips in my engine as well, so I put a piece of cardboard down to just catch the loose drips and keep them from messing on my garage floor until I can get around to dealing with them. However when I backed the car out, I saw a moderately sized fluid spot near the front passenger tire. I wiped a finger across it and there was no mistaking that it smelled of gasoline, so there is a fuel leak coming from that area of the car.

The only parts there are the mechanical fuel pump and the lines coming from it. I traced the hoses from the mechanical pump to the lines coming from the fuel tank and there's no evidence of the hard line leaking, so it's down to either the rubber hoses to the mechanical fuel pump, the hose from the pump to the carburetor, or the pump itself. I couldn't find anything that definitively indicated any one part was the source of the problem. There was some residue on both the fuel line hoses that smelled of gas, and the rubber hose from the pump to the carb seemed to be pretty clean (I know this was originally a metal hose, but the PO told me it bent when he was doing something and he replaced it with the rubber hose). A fuel pump from NAPA isn't too expensive, so for the overall cost, I'm thinking maybe I'll just replace the pump and both fuel line hoses and see if that solves the issue.

That being said, is there any better documentation on replacing the mechanical fuel pump? My Haynes manual glosses over it a bit. For example, there's mention of the pushrod, but all Haynes tells me is that I need to "Coat the pushrod with heavy grease (to hold it in position) and install it in the engine block." but no mention as to what position it's supposed to be held in. Does anyone have a better description as to what position the pushrod is supposed to be held in when the new pump is installed? Otherwise the installation looks easy enough: 2 bolts, a gasket and a couple of hose clamps.

 

The fuel pump is actuated by a rod that is pushed up and down by a lobe on the cam . The rod in turn pushes a spring loaded leaver on the pump . The spring load keeps the rod in constant contact between the pump leaver and the cam. When you remove the pump the rod will slide/ fall into the space the pump was in . The grease you put on the rod is to temporarily hold the rod up so that you can install the the pump, which will again sandwich the rod between the the pump and the cam.

 

The rod is pushed downward by an eccentric (off-center circle, not really a "lobe", exactly, but sort of) on the cam. It moves maybe 3/8" or so during normal operation.

Another "trick" for dealing with the pup push rod is to hold it up into the block with your finger while your assistant bumps the motor over. Feel for it to get pushed down, then to be allowed back up into the block. When it's as far up as it can go, take out this bolt



and in its place install a bolt about 1" longer, FINGER-TIGHT ONLY, while holding the rod up. The bolt will capture the rod in place and allow you to more easily install the pump. Then when the pump is on, put the original bolt back in, with a drop of sealer on the threads.

 

Another thing to consider is the length of hose that the PO installed in place of a bent line. Current gasoline has a higher alcohol content which will disintegrate standard rubber hose from the past. This debris will also find its way to the carburetor, causing more problems down the road. Replace the hose with one for modern fuels and you may find the vapors will be greatly reduced, if not eliminated.

 

After you replace the pump in the way that Sofa told you , your next step should be to replace the metal line that the PO destroyed . Rubber hose running from the fuel pump to the carb is a fire waiting to happen , which is why GM used metal there in the first place .

 

Right. On my 2nd gen EFI conversion I originally ran Earls braided rubber line from the rails to the tank.

But for years I fought with a fuel-ish smell in the garage. Never like opening the gas cap and smelling the fuel directly, rather an odor that was definitely related to the fuel..

Ended up finding out that the fuel vapors were essentially permeating through the rubber lines. with a smog machine you could literally see the hydrocarbon spikes as you put the probe up to the lines.

I ended up converting to braided teflon and completely eliminated the fuel odor.

 

So would I be best off replacing all the rubber lines like the ones coming from the hard lines to the fuel tank with something other than rubber lines as well?

I was looking into replacement OE style hard lines from the fuel pump to the carburetor, but every place I've found that sells them seems to charge nearly double once shipping is factored in. My local auto parts stores don't carry an OE style fuel line, but is there an alternative type of line that could be installed that they might actually carry? I don't want to cheap out on auto parts, but cheaping out on shipping charges is a different matter.

 

If the smog pump is still on your motor, it's REAL HARD to put anything there other than an OE style line.

You can make one yourself easily enough... parts stores have sticks of brake line, all you need is about a 30" stick of 3/8" inverted-flare line, your handy-dandy tubing bender, and a double-flare tool. The smog pump bracket is REAL tight to the pump exit though; getting that spot right is kinda tough. Keep in mind also, the factory routing is behind the water pump and behind the alternator; not the most DIY friendly situation to work with unless the motor is apart anyway.

If the smog pump is NOT there, you can use adapters to get from the 3/8" inverted flare, to 6-AN line.



I also HIGHLY recommend the PTFE type line if you go the -AN route. Not only because it's the best sealing as far as vapor, but also because it's by far the easiest type to work with.

 

Based on the recommendations, I think I'll probably go with the PFTE line. My smog pump is still installed, but I've been thinking about removing it because I live in a state with no emissions regulations. This is as good an excuse as any to just remove and be done with it.

For the two lines between the mechanical pump and the fuel tank, should I try to convert those to a PFTE type of line as well, or just replace them with standard fuel hoses? I just want to make sure I'm doing a "do it once, do it right" job when I do this and use the best parts for the job.

 

Is your motor pretty much stock? I've got a 305 H.O. with the stock fuel line that I'm not going to be using if your interested. It would at least get you running and be able to park inside. PM me if your interested.

 

The longer the run of rubber the lines, the worse it'll be since the amount of permeable surface area increases.

 

These days, you can use the "fuel injection" type hose, and it'll better than it was when it was new.

I think when you look at the tank connections you'll agree that using -AN line is not going to be very practical.

 

I would suggest that you don't remove your AIR pump unless you have a good reason. Those pumps have several functions, usually one of which is catalytic converter protection to help prevent meltdowns of the brick and prevent a plugged exhaust. They draw minimal power, and on balance do more good than harm.

Regarding the pushrod, do be careful that it stays up while you install the pump. I once had someone bolt the pump in and run the bolts down and bend the pushrod. They called me to help them fix it. It was a real tough job to get that pushrod out.

 

Been a few days so I figured I'd update:

First off, a huge THANK YOU to soloc4 for hooking me up with a replacement OEM fuel line. Soloc - you are truly a stand-up guy, and I hope we get the opportunity to cross paths on the road one day so I can buy you a beer (or any beverage of your choice) as a means of saying thanks and I can see your ride up close and in person.

I put my car up on stands to tackle the job of replacing my air dam (using sofakingdom's recommendation from another thread, a $14 HD mudflap from NAPA was an absolutely perfect replacement: firm but able to flex if it encounters an obstruction). As the day got warmer, the fuel pump area of my car began to drip fuel. Not fast, it was almost like watching condensation forming with how slowly the drops accumulated. I could clearly see fuel on the lines coming from the bottom of my fuel pump, and it appeared that there was some permeation happening on the rubber fuel line as well. I had cleaned it off the other day, and it was slightly slick and smelled strongly of gas again, so obviously it was part of the problem. But I noticed that the grit and grime built up on the pump also smelled of gasoline and was on the body of the pump itself, so I used some carb cleaner to break up the heavy gunk, then some Simple Green to finish the job and see if I could find the source of the leak. While the rubber hose was in definite need of replacement, the real source of the fuel leak issue was the pump itself. The seam along where the upper and lower parts of the pump came together had a very obvious wet spot of fresh gasoline, so clearly there was some type of failure somewhere along the pump. NAPA carried an exact replacement, so the next day of decent weather I'll be back under the car to replace that as well.

When I wrote that, my mindset was planning on swapping out my stock headers and exhaust and doing some additional upgrades to my existing engine, so the smog pump wouldn't have had much purpose after that since as I'm led to understand pretty much all aftermarket headers don't even have have mounting ports for the AIR system. But since then, I've thought about things a bit and I think I may just drop in a 350 instead of putting money into upgrading the original engine. But since I'm still planning on driving the car and enjoying it this summer, I might as well fix up the issues with the 305 and keep it running as smoothly as possible until I do whichever in the fall... or winter... or next year, lol.

​​​​​​Thanks for the extra advice! I found a couple of generic SBC fuel pump installation videos on YouTube as well, so between those and the help from everyone on this thread, I don't really have any excuse to bugger this job up, lol.

 

New fuel pump is in place, but now I'm starting to see how the original fuel line could have been damaged. No matter what I try, I can't seem to get the dumb thing threaded down the engine block so I can mount up the ends. No matter what I've tried, it always seems to hang up somewhere. I stop the second I feel resistance so I don't end up damaging the line, but there doesn't seem to be any easy way to get the line in place. From the look of things, if I unbolt the alternator and smog pump, I might be able to create enough room for myself to work it into place without risking damage. But before I go about making more work for myself, I wanted to see if anyone had any tips or tricks for putting an OEM metal fuel line back in place that didn't require removal of those parts.

 

Hey Gus,
When I removed the fuel line from the car it had the alternator and air pump still on it. I pulled it up from the top and turned it several times and threaded it past everything, slowly and gently and it will go in. The abrupt 90 degree bend attaches to the carburetor, making the 45 degree bend at the pump easier to get past the accessories. I hope this helps.

 

Yeah, I tried it again with a buddy on the top end of the car, and it definitely went a lot easier when I didn't try to solo it and had someone on the upper half of the car to help guide it. Even still, it took us longer than I would have expected, just with all the trial and error and figuring where and which way to turn it. It is definitely a much easier job when you have a second set of eyes to help guide you around potential hang-ups before you encounter them.

Fired her up and took her out Sunday evening, and everything is running smoothly. Actually the car feels like it's got a little more spunk to it. I think the old fuel pump's leak was coming from the diaphragm, so it might not have been getting quite as much fuel as it was calling for. But it ran smoothly and felt a bit more responsive than usual, so the new fuel line (again, many thanks to Soloc!) and NAPA fuel pump are working perfectly. Plus my garage doesn't smell like an open gas can anymore. Now it just has a faint "car smell", pretty much reminiscent of what a mechanic's garage smells like. But it's not very strong at all, and I'm not fumigating my office anymore. On to the next project!

Thanks again to everyone for all their input on this thread!