Consider:
For being as prickly as you present yourself to be, you could do with reading some yourself.
To be clear as a bell for 'ya...you notice your response to the question asked has nothing to do with answering the question?
There is a possibility that your statement of the exhaust being 'clear' means the pipes come out from under the car, past the bumper so said exhaust is 'clear' from any flow restriction. That interpretation involves a bit of mental gymnastics.
...and the third quote box indeed was not a reply to his question, but a comment from yourself that applies.
If you are concerned about fuel pressure, how 'bout using a gauge to find out what it is? That beats plumbing in a regulator...then you STILL won't know what the fuel pressure is.
A timing light will (can) tell you a lot more than an initial timing number. Where the vacuum can starts the ignition curve, does that affect the idle circuit, what the total centrifugal timing is at what RPM and whether the weights are stuck/sticking...all of those things can effect the smell of the exhaust.
You mentioned having 'tuned' the carb...but no mention of float levels, needles/springs/jet choices. Does 'tune' in this instance mean you fussed with the idle circuit screws? That's not much in the way of 'tuning'.
Transfer slot orientation?
With the car idling and looking into the carb throat, do you see any fuel coming from the wrong places? That can be a dangerous point of view.
What is your idle vacuum? RPM?
Cam? A lopey cam running 6" of vacuum at idle and 10º of initial timing is going to stink.
Exhaust leaks? Headers on the car with what for collector gaskets? Use Remflex exhaust gaskets . As in, period.
New gas, old gas, you don't know gas?
Good luck.
The smell is an indicator, not the major issue.
Not sure what you're taking about clear and the exhaust. My response was to the initial question the fellow asked about my exhaust, seemed he wanted to know if it fouled, like rich cars tend to do.
I have a gauge, it's an inline one. If I'm going to the effort I may as well order a regulator with a gauge adaptor. I've always preferred to have a regulator on a mechanical fuel pump.
I'm not saying a timing light isn't useful. I'm saying it's less useful on an older engine, with unknown tolerances that has some age on it than it is in a new engine or a garage queen that's all bright and shiny. I'd say the RPM meter on one is going to be a more helpful tool in the end. I dare say, anyone with experience, including you, can listen to an engine in one of your cars and tell quite a bit about it under certain conditions. And everytime I've been able to smell a stinky lean car I've heard it as well. Not to mention some pinging and the like. And we've all heard really rich cars diesel and stumble.
I set the carb to factory, checked to make sure the rods and jets were not full of gravel and didn't look bent or blocked. Watched and made sure the rods were not bouncing all over. Did the drill bit test on the floats. The little goblins that live in the carb and piss gas down the throat were doing their job. I suspect when it's really hot some vaporization may be happening. Nothing boiled over. And what seals I saw I made sure they didn't turn to dust in direct sunlight from being a million years old.
Did I lay a vac gauge on it, A/F dual probes and time it? No. I leaned it as much as I could on idle, as that's what it's for, and made sure it didn't cause ping under load going up hill. But no, I did not run every test, tweak every thing, or rebuild the carb. I had a warm car at idle trying to kill everyone in a twenty foot radius with CO so I tried to lean it, at idle, to stop that so I could work on it easier.
I only was able to reduce it slightly by doing that. I'll probably get a heat spacer for this carb though.
Inside the car, with windows up, it's the safest place to be. But no AC means, yuck. I didn't see, any leaks or signs of leaks, not did a mechanic. Doesn't mean they don't exist. But a few people missed them if they do. Trunk has clean air in it after I run the engine for a bit and then shut it off and stick my head in it. Chucked my niece in and she couldn't see light. Ran a dollar bill around seal. But this is not the issue for when it's running and I'm outside of it.
New gas. I ran it to near empty first week. Because, yuck for old gas. Even though gas didn't smell old or stale. Ran it to near empty the last time because I wasn't paying attention.
I'll have parts to put the regulator and gauge in Tuesday. I'm considering getting a new carb, I doubt I'll spend 70 bucks to rebuild this one. I may rebuild it later to have a spare. I'll pick up a timing gun at harbor freight. But this weekend I'm relaxing the wheel well liner in my Challenge thanks to sometime hauling chunks of particle board to the dump in front of me.
