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Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:42 pm

Love this site! I have a 69 convertible that just smells of gas under the hood and my garage smells of it also. I bought a kit from Mid-America Motorwerks and changed the two big fill hoses with the gaskets. These hoses seemed cheep and if you smell them you can really smell gas. My gas cap seal seems to be working, when I pull it off you can hear it release air pressure. Where can you buy some good fill hoses? I also changed the gasket on the fuel gage sender.

2nd question- How are the small vent hoses suppost to be routed? I took the car apart and did a full restoration 5 years ago and don't remember. It does not appear that they vent outside the car?
Anyway, i just want to reduce the gas smell so any help would be much appreciated as always.
Thank You!! :D

Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:46 pm

Check to see if you sending unit is leaking fuel.

Sun Dec 19, 2004 5:40 am

I don't know if it's the same on your '69, but I was trying to do some rerouting on my vent hose (or whatever that thing is--it's early) and there was a hole in the bottom of the apron that the hose just fits through. I also checked the gas cap seal; it was old so I made a new one and the gas smell is gone. Apparently the vent hose was releasing a lot of fumes into the car, now that the windows stay rolled up for the winter. If you have a Bentley manual, it should have a diagram of some sort where it goes. Hope this helps!

Sun Dec 19, 2004 7:10 am

I'm assuming that your 69 has no "emissions" venting system (no expansion chamber up front and no charcoal canister under the right rear wheel arch).

The normal non-emmisions venting looks like this....

The filler neck has a breather tube next to it - about 3/4inch line. Part way down this main breather is a small hose teed off it, and this hose has another T in it close to the breather, so you now have two small dia lines Teed into the main breather. One of these small lines goes to the tank vent in the rear corner of the tank (newer tanks have additional vent lines in the other rear corner so if you are using a newer tank, connect these rear corner vent lines together via a tube running across the rear of the tank, and then up to the main breather T junction. The other side of the T near the main breather is and actual tank vent - this runs up and over the instrument cluster (making it the high point in the system) and down the left side of the tank, through a slot in the bodywork to the left/under the tank and it hangs down under the car (forward of the master cylinder on LHD cars).

Many folks make the mistake of placing a short vent line straight down the right side of the tank from the main breather line - this will result in fuel smells in the car, especially in hard left hand cornering - fuel will slosh up the breather and out the vent line to splash about under the car.

And DON'T use a vented gas cap - this will result in fuel smells in cornering too.

And re the comment on pressure release when opening the gas cap - this indicates that the tank isn't breathing at all and so the engine will run short of fuel as the fuel is consumed and a vacuum develops in the tank - you need to fix the vent lines.

Regards

Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:17 pm

Find out if the bottom of the gas tank has rusted through (Pin Hole) very common problem. Front section of the pan will be dark or wet in the area just below the fuel line niple.

Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:03 pm

Kintama wrote: Check to see if you sending unit is leaking fuel.
if this is where the gas gauge cable hooks up it might be the problem however it should only happen when you fill the tank to capacity. if not check for what old ben gun is talking about

Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:43 am

Thanks everyone for their impute-

ROb- It appears I am missing a "t". Currently I have one small hose that is "T'D" into the 3/4" line. The small hose from this "T" is running to the R/S of the tank to the small vent/breather stud coming out of the tank. It appears this is the problem. I have never seen a hose run over the instrument cluster before? Anyone have a photo or can direct me to a source to look at this?

Thanks again for your help!!

Sun Jan 02, 2005 10:39 am

i too am suffering from the gas smell. i found out the hose that is off the filler hose has a leak. anyone know where to find a replacement, i think it is 15mm. the largest i've been able to find is 12mm smog hose.....