The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk BOY----does the old gal STINK!!!!!!

Took old Blue Belle out for a 50 mi. run today and did some
shopping. We got back home and backed into our parking spot
in the garage, shut her down and man does she stiiiiink.

My "big old wife" complains every time we come back and park
in the garage. She'd be happiest if I parked Blue Belle out
back of the barn.
I'm telling her it's the way all those old cars and trucks
smelled before the advent of the catalytic converter and
other pollution devices.

But today I gotta admit, she sure do STIIINK!!!

Denny Graham
Holdin' his nose in Sandwich, iL

Barns always have a good "stink". Old Blue Belle just adds to the ambiance.

You gotta love the open road draft tube, all that internal combustion parfume to smell....

If you are at the point of saying it "stinks", not "It has a little smell of" -- oil smoke, gas, hot grease etc.
Something is wrong.
Picture walking down a down town street with cars and trucks of that age parked at the curb and driving up and down the street. Do you think they would all "stink"?

Having owned, garaged and worked on a lot of antique and classic vehicles I can say none of them ever smelled bad, let alone stink.

What are you smelling? Does it only happen when hot or is it there days later?

Now what might you think is wrong Jim? She was completely
rebuilt 5000 miles ago by a major long time marine/auto
machine shop that has been in the area since I was a lad.
Hasn't burned one drop of oil since the rebuild. Gets the
expected 14-15 mpg on E-10. Don't drip nothing from the draft
tube after a long run, even on a cold day like we've been
having around here. Ain't using any anti-freeze. Don't smell
of gasoline or hot or oil when she's parked outside.
But closed up in a two car garage, she sure is stinky.
I think that's quite normal as Don points out.

I see by your profile that you list restoration work as your
occupation. What sort of restoration work do you do? I'm
always interested in how other's approach restoration. I'd like to see some pix of you work.
Here's a few of my resto projects.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/dgraham
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Every time i take a long ride and the truck gets hot it smells like a old chevy after a ride.best * smell in the world to me,thats what takes me back to my child hood. As for the wife i knew i had a good one the day right after we got married when i pulled a auto trans in the kitchen and she never said a PEEP.

My '37 is the same way, nothing stands out as a problem, its just not as clean as my late model Toyota or VW. On mine, I would say its the way the fuel smells coming out of the intake just as you shut it off. The inline six has long intake runners and the fuel has to go some where, so it vents out through the carbs and air cleaners. Nothing you can do will stop it, its not a leak that can be fixed. Once the engine cools down, the smell goes away.

One thing I did to stop the fuel tank from venting vapors was add a charcoal can to catch the odor. It works really good and cut down on a bunch of the smell. I got hold of a charcoal vapor can from a older car at the salvage yard that held a bunch of the pellets. I dumped it into a pickle jar with two tubes soldered in the lid. Air in is a short tube, air out is long enough to reach the bottom. On the end of the long tube is a small fuel filter to keep from sucking up carbon pellets. As you drive, fresh air is pulled over the pellets to clean out the fuel vapor from them, when it sits, the fuel tank vents out into the carbon which absorbs the odor.

Joe

Denny,I'm quite partial to the smell of "Parfum de Chevrolet" myself.

Usually if i've been in the garage for a few hours my "wee young wife" says I smell of old truck....better that than stale booze and cigarette smoke from the Pub I say!

I don’t get any smell from the fuel tank Joe. I hear a lot of people complain about fuel
smell in the cab because the tank is in there with you, but I’ve never had that. I always
make a point of running a gallon or two out after a fill up before I park her. My “big old
wife” wouldn’t ride in the truck with her asthma if there was even a hint of fuel smell in
the cab. We’ve been to a lot of cruise nights and car shows with the truck and she
always ends up sitting in the truck with a book while I chase around looking at the
displays. As posted, that stink isn’t there when the truck isn’t cooped up in a small
confined space. But back at home, it’s always, “Why don’t you leave the truck outside till
that smell goes away or leave the garage door open.”

Well, in me younger days John, not only did I smell of the, as you so deftly put it,
“Perfum de Chevrolet”, but the pub followed me home all too often also. Thank god I
finally outgrew the latter, it was unbecoming a man of my age.

dg

In the good old days, a used car with high mileage would have a characteristic smell inside, embedded in the upholstery. I think it was the result of years of blow-by fumes making their way through to the interior.

DG can you post a video of that stink? I don't think a pic will do.
I know that mine stinks more during the colder weather. Probably due to incomplete burning of the air/fuel mixture due to puddling in the intake. Not really a fuel smell, more like a busy, dirty engine shop smell.
Carl

Yeah Carl, that pretty much describes it. To bad that there
'Smell O Vision' never took off.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/smell-o-vision-is-finally-here
I think Joe's got a point there. I'm just pondering how I
could shut her down by running the bowl dry. I hate the
thought of hacking up my nice new fuel lines that I spent
days shaping and bundling.
Most of my implements, like snow blower, tiller, generator,
have a fuel shut off and I let them run dry when I shut them
down. A shut shut off after the AC sediment bowl would work.
As it is, the bowl empties itself after sitting a couple of
weeks so a dry start up wouldn't be anything new.
I've got a lot of little things to tend to in the spring. She
hasn't had her oil changed, grease job, a tuneup, brakes
adjusted for quite a while. Been to busy with the daily
chores and the fixin' up around Shangri La.
dg

So, it hasn't burned one drop of oil in 5000 miles? Nor anything out of the draft tube? I had my 261 rebuilt and I need to add after 1500 miles or so. I thought that was normal.

Just park the truck in the barn! Problem solved!

Denny
I don't get it. Seriously, I've never had or restored a piece of equipment (other than a 2 stroke that ran on caster oil) that had a distinctive smell when it was finished. Don't take it wrong, but this is my first old Chevy (had a '57 wagon in college and it didn't smell) so maybe I will find out when it is done.

Have had equipment that started out, on a damp day smelling like a wet goat was in the shop or that the bed was still loaded with manure. An old Packard that was so full of cigar smoke that the light tan mohair was dark brown. Left with the windows up you were in risk of lung cancer just moving it around.
Layers of truly rancid grease. Furry things leaving really bad urine, moldy food stashes and dead furry things smell.

But, after disassembly, rebuilding and restoration, none smelled much different than any other piece of equipment.

I'll PM you a few pictures. I never took pictures of my projects, especially the smaller ones, until a couple years ago. A client insisted on a photo diary of his tractor restoration. Really liked doing it so now I take pictures of everything.

Denny,
Didn't you say you had a cat?
They can sneak in and lay a smell down in the cab or under the hood and you will never see them.
Mice can also do the same thing. Nest in the heat vents a few years back, turn the heat on in the winter an it warms the smell up.

Just some food for thought.
Don

Come on guys, not that sort of smell.

Think Joe and Carl nailed it down. A few hours with the door
open and the garage is back to normal.
I fought the Rochester 'B' battle for the first couple
thousand miles that I drove the truck, then thru in the towel
and switched to the W-1. Can't remember if she stunk when the
Rochester was on or not, to many years ago and back then
before the rebuild she was burning a lot of oil and I mean a
lot.

Not BS'ing you Leo. I guess I've been putting more miles on
the old gal than I thought. Just checked the log and I've
put 16,157 miles on her since she first came home with me.
And----7,400 miles since the rebuild.
And----4,566 miles on this last oil change, nothing added.
Just pulled the dipper here and laied it on the towel:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/158881354/large
My how time slips away without you noticing.
And yes, she's a bit over due as I said for a lub job. Can't
believe I've put that many miles on her since I've moved to
the new place. But I have been using her for quite a bit of
light hauling the last couple of years.

I changed the oil at about 500 miles the first time after
break in and then once at a couple thousand more and never
needing to add any in between.

In looking thru the log, I have noticed that the mileage isn't
quite as good with the W-1 as it was with the Rochester. The
Carter seems to run about the same, a little less hesitation
than with the 'B' and it doesn't weeping fuel from the seams
like the 'B's do.

Think I might swap back to one of the 'B's and see if the
stink goes away and if the mileage comes back up.

But, all of that is gonna have to wait for some warmer
weather, maybe in March.
dg

I remember when I brought "Old Joe" home before the rebuild. I had my wife get behind the wheel. She looked at me and said, "Is it going to smell like this when it's finished?" I said "I sure hope so". Four years after the rebuild the perfume is slowly returning.

A 216 is a sludge producing factory from the day it was new until it dies of old age. Anyone who has ever pulled the oil pan on one can attest to the stench of that crud. It can't be warshed off your hands. DG has 11,966 on his rebuild. He is bound to have some deposits in the engine, and since the rocker arm cover is open to the outside via the slots on top, the volatile perfume will surely rise and fill the nostrils of the happy joy-filled occupants.
Carl

"A 216 is a sludge producing factory from the day it was new until it dies of old age. Anyone who has ever pulled the oil pan on one can attest to the stench of that crud."

Would the smell from the 216 be matched by the smell of a low-pressure (1941-1953) 235?

I do not recall any harsh/odd/foul odors from my high-pressure 235 and 261 engines. They do drip a little oil but they do not put exude a stink.

7,400----7,400 miles since the rebuild.
Don't put more miles on her that she has to have.

dg

Sorry about that. My eyes read faster than my brain can think. Quick eyes!

Carl, I think you may have hit on something I could accept as a reason for the odor comments.

Most of the "low pressure" or splash engines of the time, other than Chevy/GM were flat head engines. The road tube/filler cap was the only venting. No top of the engine valve cover vents.

The sludge build up in these engines were considerable as well.

Don't know how you guys handle oil changes, my recommendations to clients with restorations on these types of engines is:
High detergent oil
Change 3,500 mi or twice a year if low use or 5,000 mi or twice a year moderate use.
Have the engine at Full heat and start to drain as fast as possible after engine is shut off. Wear rubber gloves to avoid burns.

Using that method I have pulled pans after several years and found them virtually free of sludge in the pan and lifter galleys.

The major cause of the sludge was the quality of the motor oil. The oil that we have today will not cause sludge when changed at reasonable intervals.

Very true Don. Another cause is the induction of dirt through the valve cover slits caused by the down draft tube. We don't have as many dusty dirt roads as we used to, so there won't be as much dirt sucked in.
Carl

I am trying to understand. Can someone describe the odor? The 216 in my truck doesn't stink beyond what I'd expect. The perfume is like a hot oil mixed with lube grease, maybe a hint of antifreeze, a bit of exhaust and nothing else. The perfume lasts just as long as it takes for the engine to cool down. Granted, my shop is away from the house. So, maybe my situation is different?

You nailed it Sparky!!! Purely blissful aroma which most females find deplorable. It emanates from the vented rocker covers as designed.
Carl