[VintageLambo] Re: Smelly Espada

Hi guys, I"m back from vacation. didn"t buy anything in Fl, but had a good time. As for the smelly car issues, I think Laust is right about the vacuum in the cabin. I believe it"s caused by the louvered roof vents at the back of the roof which are there to "remove stale air and smoke" from the pass cabin(from Espada owners manual). Adding to the problem is the open air passage to the rear compartment, coupled with the poor seal around the tail lights which are directly above the exhaust exits. Knowing a small bit about air flow, there is an area of low pressure created over the roof which will suck air from the top vent while under way. My car has the same crankcase vent as all early Euro cars, namely that the tube goes down near the front of the engine and vents to air. There is no carbon recovery of fuel gasses, most cars have some, or many worn wind seals, and the cars run rich to boot. Well....It"s no wonder they smell! I"m going to tackle this by several ideas. First, I want to find a way to recirculate the crankcase gas into the intake. Haven"t figured a clean way to do it yet, without cutting into the air cleaner box, but I might just have it discharge at the front air horn pickup. Next, I"ve removed the rear lamp assemblies, and found my rubber gaskets were not seated to the housing in many areas. They shrink with time, and are a perfect location to pick up exhaust fumes. So I"ve had a gasket shop reproduce them in thicker material, and will be using anerobic sealant to reinstall them back on the car. I took the time to find and plug as many of the air leaks in the firewall as possible. Used a flashlight in a dark garage to find them. This also helps with noise reduction. At the same time, I replace the door seals, and window seals in my car and this made a HUGE difference in wind noise. Easy job too. Later, I want to add an air dam chin spoiler just behind the three holes in the front pan. Again, It"s going to require drilling a few holes, but I think the benefits of low air pressure beneath the car are so many-fold it will be worth it. Finally, I"m debating blocking off part of the louvers in the roof vent to keep the vacuum from developing in the cabin. I can control air inside by the vents in front, and use a side rear window if I need to vent a lot of air. I believe what Laust said about the newer cats being less restrictive. But I know of horror stories where a rich running car overloaded the cat to the point where it flashed into an exhaust fire. Also still concerned about the heat related to the catalytic process, even with a coated system. Cats just aren"t designed for the stoichiometry of the early Lambo V12 with carbs, even though I went down to 110 mains, and a bit bigger emulsion tubes, it"s still a rich car. I"ll let you know this summer if some or any of these follies produce results in terms of reduced smell. I know they"ve made a positive difference in noise, and climatic control. Doc --- In VintageLambo@yahoogroups.com, "lgpdk " wrote: > To everyone interested. > > A number of Espada owners have complained about exhaust smell in the > cabin, which in my view rightfully has been traced to the > aerodynamics of the car creating a slight vacuum in the cabin when > the windows are open. When asking for a solution there have been > some reasonable suggestion such as (airtight) sealing of the car"s > back-end, run the ventilation fan on high speed and opening the rear > windows both to overcome the vacuum. Unfortunately I have not heard > anyone declare success, meaning having fully overcome the smelly > problem. It is particularly the hydrocarbons, that are a nuisance > and certainly makes me physically uncomfortable (unnatural sweating) > after prolonged exposure. > > Well, here finally is a success story. > I just installed new catalytic converters (the old ones installed in