Technical Help: My neighbors are complaining

Challenge the nosey neighbor to find the odor. She sounds like a whiney busybody. Do like I do and tell the neighbor to mind it's own business.

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This is a raw fuel odor issue right? Or a problem with the exhaust?

California cultivates a special breed of nutjob, by those stickers they put on everything. On another board, some guy was freaking out because his vinyl record Discwasher fluid (he claimed) had lead in it, and he was certain he was inhaling lead fumes.

Discwasher fluid is soap and water. But it has a sticker on it "This product contains a substance known to the State of California blah blah"; since water travels through pipes, it could have a molecule or two in there somewhere. So they put a warning on the label.

We were a better country when ciggies could advertise and lawyers couldn't.

 

To be clear, the smell only occurs right after I fill it and typically is dry by the time I get home. I have to literally put my head over the tank to smell it. It is in no way shape or form "filling" the garage. She did not even say "gas" she said "chemicals". It was a ******** attack. There was a spill in the garage of some kind of fluid (not from my car) that I was sweeping up with cat litter and she refused to shake my hand bc I was "handling" chemicals. She is a twit. The only thing I touched was my bag of cat litter and my broom. I just wanted to see how you guys handle this. Thanks.

 

Newer cars have a charcoal canister which captures fuel vapors and returns them to the engine to be burned off. It looks like a fairly simple system that you could adapt to your old car.

https://www.cars.com/auto-repair/glossary/charcoal-canister/

 

all my old cars/trucks smell like gas after I drive them, and park in the garage. They didn't have fuel vapor control systems before about 1972. Modern cars have a charcoal canister that catches the fuel vapors from the carb and the tank, and holds them, then lets the engine burn them the next time it runs. Our old cars have a vented carb and vented fuel tank, and the vapors just vent into the air.

Maybe you could explain to her that this is how old cars are, remember? and if she would like to buy you a new car, she is welcome to. But you're going to drive your old one, sorry about that.

 

She may have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Anyway, I personally have become happier, or maybe less miserable, by not letting people transfer their hostility to me. Let it go.

It's Friday night and you're a young person, why are you on the computer complaining about this? Go out and have some fun.

 

IDK what I said about computerized... My tank is a top fill. I have a flip top door with a standard twist cap attached with a hose and clamps. I ordered a new bung and cap that I will bring to my welder, so I have a tighter seal. he has agreed to remove the tank and rinse it for me.

The biggest issue for me seems to be that overfill issue which is difficult to gauge when filling. It literally splashed out of the vent. (It typically spills a bit, then dries when it happens. I keep an eye on it for safety reasons, but do not want to be trailing gas for obvious reasons. I have to put my head over it to smell it when it is dry. This is not what she is smelling- it is just the only "smell" issue I have which I am trying to fix.

Thx!

 

I own a cl***ic Chevy. This is my fun, lol. <3

Thank you!

 

Can you add a carbon filter to the vent or is that not an option at all?

 

you should be able to add it. I haven't looked into it...

but if you have a problem with the filler neck that makes it spill when you fill the tank, that sounds like a different issue that you need to deal with. I would guess that the odor from that would dissipate by the time you get home, after filling the tank?

 

The problem I have with overflow is not the "problem" I think she is smelling, but it is a "raw fuel" smell when I overflow. I think the exhaust smell is what she is probably complaining about.

 

When people give me an at***ude and are strangers, I stare at them talk gibberish, take a couple of beats and exit the scene. The superior person does not concern themselves with fools. There are higher levels this strategy can be taken, backing up and screaming for help. Drooling, rolling your eyes and laughing uncontrollably. All the world's a stage. People are programmed to react to defined body language and buzz words. When the other does not reflect a norm, confusion occurs. In this moment, escape further confirmation. In the meantime, get your tank fixed. Sounds like you have created the 'Pinto' effect, and we all know what that means.

 

Ooooh! I like that! Thank you.

I have some other modifications to do before I could even consider that, but I thank you for the info. This is how I have learned, especially after my grandpa p***ed, by just asking questions and reading. When I bought it in 2003 (The year my grandpa died), I did not know what an alternator was or what it did. As cool as my car looks, when I see it, I see an accomplishment, not a vehicle.

Thank you for your advice. I don't know cars well, but I love mine and I enjoy the process.

Best wishes and thank you!

 

I do not know what that means, lol, I am a noob.

 

Yes, it does dry. And the gas comes out of the vent.

 

Here's a link to all the parts you need. You could also get them from the Pick 'n Pull, which is what I'd do. At it's most basic, the evaporative emissions system consists of a sealed (not vented) gas cap, the charcoal canister, a purge valve, and the lines that connect it all to the tank and the intake. Computer control cars have a few more components.


http://www.aa1car.com/library/evap_system.htm

http://www.autozone.com/engine-management/vapor-canister

One side benefit of the sealed fuel system is you're not losing so much gasoline to the atmosphere through evaporation, nor is the ethanol in modern gas absorbing water from the atmosphere.

 

OK I see.
As hard as it is, do not take it personal. It seem it was an attack on the truck and what it stands for not you. Many people have the delusion that old vehicles are destroying the planet. So they hate them and maybe even they're owners too. It is the times we live in.
If you think about it, there may be some jealously there. Miserable people tend to want others to be as miserable and fearful as themselves. So let their hearts bleed.
Carbon filters and all that jazz.....
That's the first thing that's ripped off on a hot rod.
Your truck is legal....don't worry about it.

I remember years ago at the station my Lt. got into my 50 Coupe grasped the wheel and took a big sniff. Ahhhhhh smells just like a flathead. Reminds me of when I was a kid. My dad had one and it smelled just like this. Interior smell, with just a little tinge of Gasoline. .

 

FalconGeorge ..... is that you ???? C'mon ... I won't tell. ....

 

You should try parking in my neighborhood:

This might be understandable if it were my '60 Falcon, half in primer, and a little beat up looking.

It was not. It was was my wife's registered, insured, unmolested, waxed, shiny, third-from-current model VW, with a valid parking permit for the neighborhood, parked within full compliance of the law.

I don't dare park the Falcon here, a**** the supercars.

Some people are just ****s.

 

She thinks there is something inferior or wrong with anyone who's not an exact copy of her. (You drive a cl***ic. )She's enjoys hurting others to make herself feel important. There's no reasoning with her. She won't come around because you've made a good point or a clever insult. She enjoys the drama. Try being or doing something genuinely nice to her without expecting anything in return. It doesn't have to be big. It'll make you like her slightly more and she won't irritate you as much when she repeats herself. The opposite is also true. Whoever is mean to another (weather you or her) grows a little more hate and unhappiness inside themselves.

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She's worried about chemicals on your hand... I wonder how many gallons of chemicals she runs through her hair every year so she can pretend she's thirty.

 

I am working on a charcoal canister for the Falcon.

I don't like the smell.

I will not be able to post the details here, because some old fart will get my thread deleted.

I won't even bother to mention that it already has EFI.

 

When I visited my cousin in San Francisco about 12 years ago, parked right across the street from her building in the Mission district was a '68 Chevelle SS396 convertible, with a '39 Dodge sedan parked right behind it, both unrestored. I saw a woman and two kids getting out of their car in front of a little neighborhood store-a '56 T-bird with YOM plates and that California patina-original paint weathered to a satin sheen. All manner of vintage foreign cars were there too. It was a great place for spotting daily-driven vintage iron.

I hear the city has gotten a lot more upscale in the last few years. Too bad.

 

Almost all of the lowriders have been chased out of The Mission, and replaced with hipster douchebags.

That's why I go to all of the lowrider events. I throw down to help whenever I can. I don't want to see that culture driven out, or killed off. Good people.

 

Well, as usual a lot of guys don't read the whole post or whole thread before throwing out an answer.
The Evap system that Steve Ray showed in post 46 runs a non vented cap as the tank vents though the canister and the carb draws in some of the fumes. That pretty well takes care of the fumes that vent out of the tank after you fill the tank, drive home and park. It also takes care of some of the sloshing out of the vent when you drive with a full tank or almost full tank. I've suggested it to folks who were having similar problems before but don't have any feed back. I'd think the charcoal canisters and their brackets go dirt cheap at Pick a part as few people ever hunt for one. I'd mount it up in the front corner of the engine compartment on the core support where it didn't show but still wasn't too low. If you are changing the filler neck you could fit in a piece for the vent line to plug into.
One thing, don't weld on a tank that has had gas in it. I'd imagine your bung goes into a short piece of hose like mine does and you can work on the bung on what serves as your welding table.

If the exhaust smells strong you probably need a better state of tune on the engine and some carb adjusting. The gas savings will probably pay for some of it.

 

This......get her a snickers bar and tell her she's not herself when she's hungry.

 

Can't say I've heard anything like this before. Just as an "experiment", buy some of the additive you put in your gas to make it smell like strawberries, cherries, etc, coming from the exhaust. It's a novelty, and sold by Summit, E-Bay, etc. I personally don 't care for the smell of peanut ****er, so I hope they don't have an additive that smells like that.! Do that, and see if the old neighbor lady notices; or if she's just an old neighbor lady, and there's really nothing you can do to appease her. When my wife and I bought our home, the lady from across the street comes over one day to complain our chimney is't straight (the house is set up for a wood stove, but we've never installed one). I just looked at our chimney, and then over at hers, and told her, "well look at that, yours is't straight either". Never spoke to her again, she never spoke to us, and eventually, their careers and family life fell all apart, their house was repossessed, and they were gone. Funny how things have a way of solving themselves with time. Other than the gas additive, I say ignore her. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Hang one of those tree air fresheners from the back bumper so she can see that you are working on the problem?

 

I agree with most replies here.... smile, be friendly and tell her you have no idea what she could be talking about. It smells fine to you.

Liberalism is a mindset, not a political party. Although, most liberals belong to a certain political party and most conservatives to another. Many liberals and many conservatives have no political affiliation at all.

 

fuel fragrance .you can get it on ebay.comes in g**** strawberry cinnamon etc etc. just add a little to your fuel