Exhaust fumes in cabin solved!!!

[Derek]

For me that is.

I've been battling with this problem for years. In Florida I mainly run with the windows up and the air on so it hasn't been too much of a problem. But with the windows down and during down shifts it was getting pretty bad. I had made all the usual repairs. New weatherstripping, sealed the tail ights, checked for holes with a flashlight, etcetera etcetera. All to no avail. I then came across this post by

Zs-ondabrain over on Classic Z

 

 

“Here is one thing you can do. Get a smoke machine, a shop vacuum and some cardboard.

 

Cut the card board to fit in the window opening with the window 1/4 of the way down. Cut a hole the size of the vacuum hose into the card board and slide the card board into the felt groove in the upper part of the window frame. Then tape the lower part of the cardboard to the upper part of the open window.

 

Turn on the vacuum. Start the smoke machine and blow the smoke to the suspected areas and there ya go. Or have someone on the inside watching for the exact spot that the smoke comes in, while you're out side with the machine.â€

 

 

The only thing I changed was I was on the inside of the car and my buddy was on the outside working the smoke machine.

 

 

As I laid in the back of of the car my thoughts quickly switched from wondering if I wasted $45.00 on the smoke machine to “ I hope I can get out of here alive†as I was immediately engulfed by smoke. Okay I know the smokes non toxic but it was a bit freaky! We aired out the car and decided to go for a more measured approach. This time I was able to spot the areas where the smoke was coming in. In my case it was the body seams between the rear body panel and the inner floor that were leaking.

I had put a new rear body panel on the car years ago and didn't do a good enough job of sealing the seams. The biggest culprit was the very bottom seam. This is the one you see if you look under the car and follow the inside of the panel upward. This is also where the bumper brackets mount. Although this channel doesn't directly lead into the cabin, the ends are open and spill into the ¼ panels under the tail lights.

It then became a game of sealing leaks and the re smoking the car. All told I found 3 minor and 1 major leaks that I probably never would have located without the smoke machine. Now's the time to buy one because of Halloween. The party stores all stock these things.

 

 

This really works!

 

 

Derek

[jerryb]

What a great idea...so simple!!!!!

 

Thanx for sharing.