Triumph Repair: Carbon Canister, combustion chambers, carbon canister

Question
QUESTION: Howard-- I just got a 1972 MKIV.  Rebuilt the carb and it's starting well.  But am getting a lot of exhaust fumes.  Can't seem to find leaks in the tailpipe or muffler, but I see that the carbon canister, which has two ports on the top and one on the bottom, only has two lines going to it. Both lines go the top and there is no line attached to the bottom port. One line comes from the fuel tank and the other from both the crankcase and the carburetor.  What's supposed to be attached to the bottom port?  I have the 1300 engine (FK 35038 UE# and I think #not sure) the 150 CD4 carb.  It could also be the 1.50 CDSE.

ANSWER: Hi Dan,
I believe your car only had two hoses on the canister. The one in the top middle should go to a "T" that connects the crankcase vent from the valve cover and the other goes to the large port on the side of the carburetor. The other port on the top goes to the fuel tank vent. The bottom port on the canister is not connected to anything.

You say you are getting a lot of exhaust fumes. Where??? inside the car?
If so you need to check the exhaust pipe to manifold joint. (a common place to leak) Also check the manifold to head gasket.

Neither the carburetor nor any of the canister connections are able to cause exhaust fumes in the car. Only the exhaust system can do that.

Howard

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks, Howard.  The car starts well but is running very rich and using a lot of gas, so the fumes I'm smelling may just be the result of that.  I can't identify one single point where it's coming out.  What's the next steps I should take to tune the engine and get it running leaner?
 Also, my friend was showing me the distributor workings and found that the vacuum advance plate was stuck.  Is there some way to free this plate without taking the distributor off of the engine?

Answer
Hi Dan,
I learned a long time ago not to attempt to adjust a carburetor until I knew for sure that the combustion chambers were correct (compression test) and that the ignition system was correct (timing and advance systems)

You are wasting your time looking at the carburetor until you get the distributor fixed. The distributor is very easy to remove and much easier to work on the advance plate with the distributor out on the bench.

The carburetor is the last item to work on when trying to get an engine tuned.

Howard