V8 Stinks (1 Viewer)

[rchandler]

I owe Snead Hearn a beer or two. Turning the single pipe out the back sliglhly down was the fix.....
Still get faint smell slowing down but it is 90% better . Was ready to quit driving with the top off ,now
life is good again .

View attachment 234712

 

[matt.mcinnes]

I owe Snead Hearn a beer or two. Turning the single pipe out the back sliglhly down was the fix.....
Still get faint smell slowing down but it is 90% better . Was ready to quit driving with the top off ,now
life is good again .

View attachment 234712

That won't work off road too well depending on how hard you play.

 

[moomtazz]

I bought a 78 w/ 350 a couple of months ago. It is running rich and I haven't had time to mess with the carb, but I do have an e;xhaust leak at the manifold (ram's horn).

 

[inkpot]

As it has warmed up (and I have finished up with the whole steering issue) I drove the Cruiser the other day and returned home smelling bad. I spoke to a hot rod buddy who suggested MSD ignition, which got me thinking about the ignition. So, I pulled the spark plugs and what do you know, it looks like they are all gapped randomly. Gaps from .03 to .08. That cannot be right.

So, any suggestions would be appreciated. I've got a 383 (350 with 400 Crank, etc) with a 600 Edelbrock, fairly mild cam and HEI. What gap do you folks suggest. Hot rod buddy says .045. I hope that this might help me out.

Now I've got newly tight steering, better brakes, nice suspension and shocks but the stupid thing still stinks.

I have a 63 Ford with a 390 that smells almost sweet in comparison. I don't expect it to smell like the wife's new car, but it ought to be better (or at least as good) as the old Ford.

So, any suggestions on the GAP and/or adding something like an MSD ignition. Seems like a bunch of hooey for $200.

Happy June. Summer comes. Time to wheel.

Howdy! Your Hod Rod Buddy is right. I have always run 0.045" on my 350's with HEI. It is listed as the stock setting for a lot of years. Once it is warmed up, a well tuned carb and ignition should not have any nasty smells. John

 

[rchandler]

That won't work off road too well depending on how hard you play.

I agree. Extention is just tacked on , now that I know it helps with the exhuast fumes , I will make it removable for off roading

 

[matt.mcinnes]

I agree. Extention is just tacked on , now that I know it helps with the exhuast fumes , I will make it removable for off roading

Not a bad idea at all, best of both worlds

 

[sfrolich]

I've seen HEI ignitions from the 70's run up to a .080 gap... I'm running .060.

 

[cruiserjunkie]

I run a 045 gap also but if it still ran rich and I gave every thing else a tune up I would go to a hotter plug. I run duals that exit in front of rear tires and dont recall ever having a smell linger

 

[TMACK]

Funniest Post ..... Still Rolling

Thanx Fast Eddie.
Jesus that's good stuff

 

[B2BER]

As it has warmed up (and I have finished up with the whole steering issue) I drove the Cruiser the other day and returned home smelling bad. I spoke to a hot rod buddy who suggested MSD ignition, which got me thinking about the ignition. So, I pulled the spark plugs and what do you know, it looks like they are all gapped randomly. Gaps from .03 to .08. That cannot be right.

So, any suggestions would be appreciated. I've got a 383 (350 with 400 Crank, etc) with a 600 Edelbrock, fairly mild cam and HEI. What gap do you folks suggest. Hot rod buddy says .045. I hope that this might help me out.

Now I've got newly tight steering, better brakes, nice suspension and shocks but the stupid thing still stinks.

I have a 63 Ford with a 390 that smells almost sweet in comparison. I don't expect it to smell like the wife's new car, but it ought to be better (or at least as good) as the old Ford.

So, any suggestions on the GAP and/or adding something like an MSD ignition. Seems like a bunch of hooey for $200.

Happy June. Summer comes. Time to wheel.

I had the same raunchy clothes fouling raw fuel smell emitting from my 350 for a couple of years. I just finally got it fixed. I have a quadrajet, rams horn manifolds, flowmasters that exit right in front of the rear tires, and a standard HEI distributor.
The first thing I tried was messing around with the carb, which didn't yield any improvement....at all!!!
Then it was on to the ignition system. I found that all of my spark plug wires were off by one spot on the distributor. The #1 cylinder wire was in its appropriate spot for a points style distributor. I missed this little detail when I went from my points distributor to HEI. After fixing the wire locations I reset the timing to about 7 degrees BTDC. With the distributor set up properly I got rid of about half of the raw fuel smell.
The last thing I found that totally knocked out the problem was that my coil was only getting 9 volts to it. I still had a ballist resistor in my ignition circuit, I'm not sure if this was causing the voltage drop or if my shoddy V8 conversion wiring was to blame.
Fast forward to this weekend, I just spent the last month rewiring 90% of the Cruiser. My coil is now getting 13-14 volts and the engine runs like a raped ape, and the exhaust smells like it should now. Nice and clean.

 

[Snead Hearn]

I agree. Extention is just tacked on , now that I know it helps with the exhuast fumes , I will make it removable for off roading

You cannot see it in my pictures, but mine are attached with a couple of set screws each. The extensions slide onto the pipes, then I tighten the screws. When I hit the trail , off they come. Back on the pavement and back on they go. Still doesn't fix the actual smell, but it does help direct it elsewhere.

I regapped all 8 plugs at .045 last night and planned to drive today, but it rained (even on the east side of Oregon, it does rain occasionally) so no luck there.

Love the gas mask idea. That might be a good idea to hand out after I cook chili this weekend.

Thanks for the comments. I am heading down the ignition path. I hadn't even considered the whole spark side of the equation. Looks like another weekend under the hood instead of Cruising...

 

[ken_79-fj40]

My mustang used to absolutely stink terribly. I had to change my clothes when I got home after driving it with the windows down. The plugs all looked fine, it ran great, and was getting decent mileage. I had always had issues with the idle speed being inconsistant, and the stock ford/holley carb on it didn't have a fixed curb idle speed stop on it. When the primary bowl started to seep fuel through the gasket, and new gaskets didn't fix it I got fed up and ordered a new 4160 holley 600. Idle is rock solid now, and it no longer stinks. I didn't touch anything else.

 

[Mendocino]

I bought a 73 FJ40 in November 2007 with a ZZ4 (355 hp 350 Chevy), TPI, and a Haltech engine management system. The unburned fuel smells were horrible. I would park it in the garage and my wife would complain about the smell from the back of the house! I ended up taking the thing to a hot rod shop with a dyno. We changed the engine management system and used the dyno to tune the engine. Now there is no fuel smell at all and the thing runs great.

Spend the money on the dyno.

 

[Snead Hearn]

Stink Update

What a PITA. Re-gapped the plugs. Still no good. Looked the timing, but it was odd, so I checked the coil and sure enough the thing was arcing across the little metal bar on the bottom (is there a technical name for that?). Quick trip for a new coil and looky there, timing was at almost 25! Back to 8, and now it runs like a champ.

It finally smells like exhaust. Plain old exhaust. No more unburned fuel, watery eyes, etc.

The moral of the story appears to be: Just because I replaced it a year ago, doesn't mean it is good. ARRGH!

Home tonight to strip off the top and have a fun summer. Happy trails.

 

[lucky 13]

rich

maybe the PO had its running rich to keep that stroker cooler. i know that if it runs leaner the temp will go up.

or you can change out the jets in your carb and run ethanol..
sure youll get 30% worse gas-mileage. but the stench will be replaced by a not as stinky alcohol smell. and it will run extremely cool.

 

[burnttoastburgos]

Read your reason for starting the post.....Too much fuel.............

Judging by the info you've given us the first things i would look into changing and adjusting is the following from Summit:

Needles and seats Edelbrock 1465 - Edelbrock Carburetor Needle and Seats - summitracing.com

then while its upside down and on the bench, adjust your floats and make sure the metering rods ARE in fact the correct size. Give edelbrock a call and run through the tech dept and im sure as s*** they'll give the exact same response as above.

Not that any of the posts above are incorrect but the problem lies inside your carb, hence the heavy fuel smell. The Edelbrock carb is based on the old Carter body carbs, which .............when correctly adjusted for off road with a low pressure adjustable regulator "AND" the dizzy correctly timed for general elevation, will be very dependable and prove to run flawlessly!!