At 05:16 PM 10/13/2004, you wrote:
>I've attacked this problem before but it's back, and worse. With one of
>the Tiger's windows opened, partially or completely, and the other
>closed, I immediately smell a very strong exhaust smell (or what I take
>to be exhaust) while bopping down the highway. I now have a hardtop on the
>car and this condition seems to be worse with it on than it is with just
>the soft top up, for whatever weird reason. My exhaust tips are about 2"
>beyond the rear bumper.
>snip
Your problem is most likely related to the negative pressure in the
passenger compartment created with one window closed. We don't know for
sure where the "smell" originates, but I can tell you about the "Secret
Passage" that exists in all Sunbeam Alpine and Tiger body's. Under the
front of the rear shelf you will notice a boxlike structure with six
punched oval holes, two on the bottom and four on the vertical face. The
fuel pump wire typically passes through one of these holes. This box
structure crosses the width of the body and opens up into the well just
below and behind the door opening and in front of the wheel well. This is
where the drain from the pan below the soft top hinge drops before the hose
enters the rear wheel well. A passage exists from the structural box below
to this well inside your passenger compartment. I found it because of hot
air rising from below the car. While I had no noticeable odor problem, the
extra heat load was very annoying in the summer time with the top up.
I solved the problem with expanding urethane foam. I pointed the foam just
outside the outboard oval hole on each side of the box and the foam
expansion closed this passage tight. No guarantees on solving your
particular problem, but I thought you and others might be interested in
this little known "Secret Passage".
If the exhaust gas is coming from the tips, you can always point them
outward or sideways at the rear of the body. I know this doesn't look
quite right.............. but it does get the exhaust out of the negative
pressure area behind the body.
Tom Hall
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