CorvetteMikeB

I also read that old cars have gas smells due to no smog pollution control. No Catalytic Converters or Vapor Extractors to remove the extra gas vapors not burned in the engine.
This is why modern cars with smog pollution control do not smell like gas. Not sure what to think.

DSR

After driving the car and the motor fully warmed up, turn off the motor and remove the air cleaner. The choke should be fully open. Use a flash light and watch the accelerator pump nozzle for a solid 15 to 20 minutes. Watch for fuel dripping from the nozzle. Look for wet throttle plates. If the choke plate starts to close, hold it open so you can see the nozzle. The gas will drip and evaporate quickly. You need to see it while it's dripping.

Factoid

I also see this a lot with braided fuel lines. Unless they are ptfe lined, fuel vapor can escape. In stock, the causes are covered above.

CorvetteMikeB

I noticed a gas smell the following morning after filling up the gas tank. Gas seems to splatter and mist everywhere while filling up the tank with gas. Not sure how to solve this problem.

old60c1

Change your Corvette to a Convert (EV)

DansYellow66

IMO - most of the exhaust odor of old cars - provided they don’t have leaks, over-rich mixtures, or percolation, or big cams and overlap - is due to modern formulation of ethanol gas. Modern gas has a lower vapor point and freely evaporates off so any residual fuel in the carb throat or intake is going to quickly fume off for lack of a better term. Also your burning corn oil - it smells. Back before the 70s the quick, flash off evaporation and burning corn oil were not something we had to deal with in everyday motoring. It’s not the car that smells, it’s the fuel.

Fawndeuce

I was away on a business trip, back in the days before Covid when we had those, and the wife tells me that the garage stinks of gas, the '67 was in there. I had her go in and look under the car with a flashlight, nothing, then try to sniff around the car to see if she could locate the source, she though towards the front, had her open the hood check around the carb, etc nothing. Fortunately I got home the next day, found that the pump was dripping into the channel in the A arm, I had a nice little pool in there, new pump problem solved.


Paul

Powershift

Dan:

Ethanol does not have a (strong) smell or odor attached to it. Think Vodka...........

Larry

DansYellow66

Larry, not in it’s refined state - but burn it and it and I contend it does have a distinctive odor. Catalytic converters on cars negate it. Of course it will depend on the concentration.

CorvetteMikeB

Black Tux

Did ever figure out your overnight garage gas smell ?

Black Tux

Thanks for asking, sadly I have not solved the problem. I believe it could be in part the car running too rich. I took it to a local garage in Carson City Nevada as we live in the Tahoe area half of the year. They didn't make me feel confident so I may find another garage when we move down to our home in Northern California for the winter. Until then, I'm doing my best to ignore it.

Roger Walling

I cleaned and painted my tank and 1/2 filled it to ck for leaks (older car with a vented cap), it passed OK.
So I filled it up and parked it inside and the next day the smell was really bad.
After checking everything I came to the conclusion that the cold gas from underground tanks had expanded in the tank and expelled all the fumes from the tank, no leaks, just vapors.

Desert Nomad

One other area that's worth looking at taking in consideration that the area's mentioned above are tight and not seeping is the carburetor vent. I had a front bowl on my 3811 Holley warped, but not leaking. It was the bowl with the pop up vent on top. I tried to get one from Holley but non available. Summit had the non-vented bowl which was completely compatible to my carb. I purchased and installed the non-vented bowl. When I did, I noticed a drastic reduction in gas fumes in the garage after shut down. It was just another exit for fuel vapors to escape and cause the smell that your talking about. Just my experience with this issue.

CorvetteMikeB

At a car show I saw a 1964 & 1967 Corvette with a charcoal air cannister ( EVAPORATIVE CONTROL CANISTER) in the engine bay hooked up to their PVC system. They also had the same gas fumes problems in their garage they told me, especially 80+ degrees weather outside. I was curious what the part was and this started the conversation. Must have worked since nothing was mentioned about it not working.


Both corvette owners told me that they got the idea from their local Corvette Club. A member did this to their 1961 Corvette.


I plan on adding a pollution control EVAPORATIVE CONTROL CANISTER to my 1965 Corvette Coupe this Spring.



You need to fix and remove the source of the gas fumes. Airing out your garage is a bandaide approach and solves nothing the Corvette owner's told me. I will follow their advice with the ( charcoal vapor canister ) this Spring.