HOw are your engine breathers connected - or are they not?  Vent to atmosphere?  or under bonnet- or tubed somewhere underneath.

the big open hole behind the cluster- have you tried blocking it off well too? engine fumes- thru cluster hole

Hows your mixture  - plugs burning?  Clean or dirty? rich mixture above say 3K rpm?

The pipes look nice and clean, the tailpipe looks great as it is, and there's no evidence of blow-out/through on the joints or cracks that I can see. 

I forgot that you have the rolled end at the tailpipe; I think the stainless systems have a slightly larger taipipe diameter than the basic carbon steel solutions that the commoners use, so the extention might not slip over the pipe in the event that you were to cut the end off of your existing tailpipe. 

I like the jacking reinforcement on the rear subby - I've been meaning to do this to mine, have a bit o'angle iron and keep forgetting about it.  It's on the list for 'someday'.

Oh, and with reference to Spitz' gearshift gaitor, I replaced mine when I installed a reverse light and found that the neither the original retaining collar plate nor the new one that I purchased as a backup didn't fit over the flanged hole in the tunnel properly which was why I always had a slight water leak in wet weather.  I dressed the hole in the shell and when I installed the new gaitor, used a bit of RTV sealant and haven't had a problem since.

Image Gallery

Thanks jeg.

Colourful responses! makes me think this should be "Project Stinky...... in Technicolour!"

So far, I managed to get everything apart and some photos. But our little digital camera won't yield some of the photos which for some reason went to its internal memory and not to the SD card.

Here's some of the photos. Everything seemed tight and it took quite a white to separate the front joint - I had a rope turnbuckle tied to the rear muffler bracket and to the garage wall, and with alot of BFH, it eventually came out.

The front joint was a wee bit sooty outside but no big deal. Inside, the joint was also clean except for a small patch on the upper side, in the last picture where pipe end appears closest to the headlight.

The manifold gasket came out in one piece and was backwards, but there was no evidence of leakage at the exhaust ports. (Those pics are stuck in the camera..... maybe tomorrow.)

This'll get the tip out to under the bumper: RC40-005

Have you idled it with a rag stuffed in the end of the tailpipe and listened for the hiss of a leak?

does the squared off back end of a mini cause negative pressure ( when moving obviously) and so exhaust gets sucked in through a bad boot gasket, even though you said it was good. What about trial of taping over the boot lid gap and seeing if that stops the ingress of exhaust fumes

Dan,

Could the fumes you're getting be coming from under the hood....ie: blow-by from the engine?

Another possibility is a leak in the exuast and coming up through the shift gator.

...that's all I've got

Okay... I'm ready to try and get exhaust fumes to go through the system and out the tailpipe (again).

Specs:

• 1275 high conpression HA83AA engine, stock as far as I know.
• standard manifold gasket (apparently on backwards)
• Freeflow (3 branch) header, plain steel, complete with brace to diff cover.
• RC40 stainless single box exhaust system, with tapered side exit tailpipe.
• clamps: u-bolt and saddle type.
• system hangers in good condition, very little flex at stock rubber mounts only
• Tailpipe extends beyond rear valance but not belond line of ear bumper.
• Body condition good (the car that is... me not so much!) with good boot seal and only factory panel openings (i.e. no rust holes).

Problem: ingress of exhaust fumes above 60kph/40mph unless windows are closed.

Questions:

1. Manifold gasket should be with metallic side facing away from head? Yes/No?
2. Should any sealants or similar products be applied to the manifold gasket. Yes/No?
3. If Q. 2 is yes, what material and to which surfaces?
4. Any special prep to head or manifold/header surfaces,or just clean, smooth, dry and aligned?
5. What torque to manifold stud nuts? (alloy intake and I will check flange thicknesses match)
6. Connection between steel header and stainles exhaust pipe: just clamp or use exhaust "cement", and if so what type?
7. What magic words or incantations might help?