Bad Exhaust Smell !!!

[rossiz]

nice car - you CA folks get the pick of the litter with CLEAN body work!

another point of entry for exhaust gas is the rubber boot for the shift lever. it's underneath the leather/vinyl boot cover and has a compression ring seal to the floor tunnel and is supposed to seal tightly to the shifter shaft. after 40+ years there's a good chance it's cracked and/or deteriorated (even in sunny CA). it's a cheap part, but a bit of a pain to replace as it's under the center console.

[Pmg]

The inner shift boot was my issue. It was torn and it allowed fumes to get inside the cabin as well as excess road noise. Needed to remove the center console, but it's pretty straight forward.

[Stanley]

Using octane booster? I love the way my car's running with a little more advance, but there was a slight ping, almost unnoticeable. Put in some "Turbo Boost", can't hear ping anymore but it made the exhaust stink. Guess I'll try another brand.

[Clark Rush]

early SU tend to run rich @ idle, throttle chamber cleaning & inspection,& fairly easy adjustment's they should run well, but the air pump is (really)the only clean-air Act. that would help! Install a 3-way cat.???? 12yr.vet@Midas .exhaust can't in and of it's self change HC/CO "fumes"

[TheGrimOne]

Some leaner tuning, a cat converter, and a longer tailpipe will get rid of that smell, the body shape of Z's was a flaw in design, the body curves and underworkings of the car lead fumes right up the rear driver side into the driver window area, there are also 3 major points inside the cab where its possible, there is a hole up a bit from the shifter, you can see it if you gut out the dash, there is another hole just below the shifter in line with the E-brake if you remove the center console, the shift boot is another point. alot of people stick an extra half foot of tailpipe so the fumes dont follow the body curves, and a cat converter is designed to ruduce toxic fumes to a minimum.

[CEgg11]

I have had a lot of success in sealing the gaps between the taillights and the body, and also sealing the plastic cover at the back of the hatch against the body. I disagree about tailpipe length. It is more to do with the fact that the Z isn't airtight - too much air comes in through gaps.

[madkaw]

In all the threads I read about exhaust fumes, I never read about my issue. The hatch vinyl panel inside the car needs to be sealed against the hatch. The low pressure makes for a nice vacuum chamber inside the hatch if this panel is not sealed and it will suck a lot of air right thru the latch assembly. There is no good way to seal off the hatch-latch, because the air goes right thru the guts of the latch. Plus you have the two big grommets in the end of the hatch also.

This was the fix for my issues. My exhaust is even with my valence(no bumper) and the smell is 98% gone.

[grannyknot]

Steve, you have the rear vents under the hatch glass on your /71?

I found the same problem on my early Z so I had to seal up everything mentioned above as well as the inside hatch vinyl panel as you did. I still have a "shorty" tail pipe and I only smell exhaust on hard down shift or hard braking.

TheGrimOne, There certainly is a more than a few aerodynamic flaws on our Z's

concerning lift at high speeds as well as turbulence at the rear end that sucks exhaust fumes into the cab. As troublesome as they are I would not change anything about the outward design of my car if it would fix it.

The Kammback rear end of Z's is what causes the exhaust to be sucked into the cab, there used to be lots of production cars that used the style, Zeds, Triumph TR6, Opel's, even the Shelby Daytona's. They all suffered from exhaust in the cab. As I remember, the Kammback was suppose to reduce drag, but you sure don't see anymore much anymore.

Chris

In all the threads I read about exhaust fumes, I never read about my issue. The hatch vinyl panel inside the car needs to be sealed against the hatch. The low pressure makes for a nice vacuum chamber inside the hatch if this panel is not sealed and it will suck a lot of air right thru the latch assembly. There is no good way to seal off the hatch-latch, because the air goes right thru the guts of the latch. Plus you have the two big grommets in the end of the hatch also.

This was the fix for my issues. My exhaust is even with my valence(no bumper) and the smell is 98% gone.