I recently bought a '73 240z (super excited to be part of the community btw). Every time I start up the car and am standing outside next to it, the smell of the exhaust quickly saturates my clothes and even leaves my skin smelling like the exhaust fumes requiring a shower and to immediately throw my clothes in the wash. Is this normal on these cars?

Some additional context that might help:

• Everything on the car appears to be stock except for dual Weber carbs

• There's a very slow leak of transmission fluid coming out of the bell housing area (about 1 drop every 30 min)

• There's an even slower leak of coolant, dripping onto the starter (at least I think it's the starter)

• I checked the oil (after letting the engine run for 10 min and cool for about 5 min) and it appears to be filled slightly higher than the max line

I had a classic mini not too long ago that had a similar issue only after overfilling the oil so my first thought was to drain some of the oil and let the engine run for a bit to burn off any excess that's still where it doesn't belong. However, figured it might also be due to the fluid leaks being burned off. Or simply that these cars have very smelly exhaust fumes and everyone in the 70s smelled like fumes after driving their car, but I'm betting this is not the case.

Happy to provide photos of anything that might help troubleshoot the issue.

My first impression is the car is running rich. Furthermore, these older vehicles do not burn modern fuels as efficiently.

Just go to a local cars and coffee and take a deep breath as all the older cars leave the event and you'll know what I'm talking about 😉

Edited January 1Jan 1 by DatsunZGuy

Slightly over full oil level doesn’t cause oil leaks. Sounds to me from what you’re describing is a rear main seal at the crankshaft. Common issues on older cars. Requires dropping the transmission, clutch and flywheel to change that seal. I’d be more inclined to investigate where the coolant is coming from. Hopefully it’s a heater hose or connection in that area. A lot of research ahead. Clean everything off and watch for leaks as the motor is idling,

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The dual webers can be a challenge to get tuned right. I would go to twin SU's. I suspect your carbs are very rich which I found to be the case when I had a car running dual weber downdrafts

21 hours ago, Yarb said:

Slightly over full oil level doesn’t cause oil leaks. Sounds to me from what you’re describing is a rear main seal at the crankshaft. Common issues on older cars. Requires dropping the transmission, clutch and flywheel to change that seal. I’d be more inclined to investigate where the coolant is coming from. Hopefully it’s a heater hose or connection in that area. A lot of research ahead. Clean everything off and watch for leaks as the motor is idling,

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I meant that the overfilling could be causing the engine to burn oil that’s risen too far and cause the smell. Sounds like that’s not the case here though.

The leaks are an entirely different issue that I was just pointing out in case those could be burning up at the point of the leak and causing the smell. I probably didn’t explain this well, but appreciate the tips!

Thanks everyone for the tips! Really looking like the carb tuning (or nature of these carbs) is the culprit. I’ll look into it further this spring. In the meantime, the leaks needs to be addressed.