Adrio said:
Am I embarking on a futile excersize or do some of you TR3 owners have cars that don't reek of petrol in the garage?
The project '3 spent two weeks locked in the garage (along with one of the Stags). I didn't notice any fuel smell (which doesn't mean much), but more importantly SWMBO did not complain of it either. But then, I've improved my garage ventilation as well, so that may be part of it.
I would also check the float bowl mounts for leaks (probably most common on my cars, after switching to O-rings for the jets); and the bottom of the fuel tank (rust pinholes).
Adding a carbon canister isn't a bad idea at all; but keep in mind you need a fuel separator of some sort (I have found that liquid fuel runs out of the tank overflow during hard turns) plus a purge vacuum line to pull fresh air through when the engine is running. Otherwise, the carbon will quickly get saturated (it only holds a tiny amount anyway) and be totally ineffective.
Don't know offhand if the TR6 used it, but later Stags use a vapor separator that would probably fit in the space above the tank on a TR3. Hopefully high enough to keep liquid fuel out during hard turns; but adding a dip tube (so the tank cannot be filled all the way) would probably still be a good idea.
Come to think of it, perhaps some don't know this : With the stock arrangement, you need to be sure NOT to fill the tank all the way to the top and then park it in the garage. Gasoline expands with heat far more than steel does, and generally comes out of the pump pretty cool. So it can quite easily expand enough in a hot garage to spill out the overflow.