exhaust replacement and petrol smells

[L.Mo]

Hey - i know little to nothing about mechanical things - but enough to know my exhaust needs replacing...!! My mechanic suggested just doing the front piping, but looking at just kampers there is a bundle option to buy the rear too .... any advice if i'm better off doing it all at once, or is it fine to do it in bits...?!
Also there is quite a petrol stench which the mechanic has put down to the exhaust too ... apparently the fuel pipes are all fine , but i am slightly nervous about things catching fire...? Any advice appreciated!!
i have an '87 water-cooled

[itchyfeet]

Petrol stench where? if you are smelling it in the cab most likely breather hoses on the fuel tank.

Leaky exhaust is most likely to give you exhaust fumes only and they smell very different to neat petrol. If you can small exhaust then you probably have problems with the hatch or door seals.

All the mild steel exhausts have a short life of perhaps 5 years, every time you remove one you risk breaking studs on the engine so I would just do the pipe that needs replacing, it is OK to replace just one part at a time.
If the van is a keeper then consider a stainless system.

[L.Mo]

Thanks,

the petrol smell is pretty strong and mostly can smell it when outside the van, it's definitely petrol though...
i'll get the mechanic to do a double check. A neighbour told me these vans can explode which is why i'm nervous about it!!

[tforturton]

Could be a number of things - rusty tank (they rust on the top surface), rusty filler pipe (take it out and check), loose breather pipes.
And then there's all the pipes in the engine bay. Does it smell when the van is not running? ie. Before you've even started it up?

[kevtherev]

You really need to fix this.
It's not hard to find a petrol leak.

[L.Mo]

thanks, i'll get them to do a good check on the tank etc.

it doesn't smell when it's not running, but can smell more when the revs are high...

[Smcknighty]

Rusty filler pipe - what do people do with these?? Mine has a small amount of rust no perforations or anything. Should I paint it??

[kevtherev]

With underseal yes