Fumes and weight management

First is putting the 96 XJ up on stands. Considering the weight of the engine and that there's no real frame under there, would it be risking bending the body to put the front of the truck up on stands? Doing a lot of front end work right now and I have both front wheels off and two stands positioned supporting the 'frame' rails right where the front doors meet the quarter panels. Have some 2x4s running length wise b/t the stands and rails to spread out the pressure.

And second is a concern I have about the company vehicles I'm asked to drive at work. We have a set of mechanics now that don't fix any problems that deal with fumes getting into the vehicles, and will tell you they're harmless. So recently I'm in discussions with higher ups about how to measure the air quality in the vehicles. The two situations I see most often that allow fumes in are leaky head gaskets dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold, and leaky exhaust manifolds.

So I'm wondering what kind of device do I need to get my hands on to measure these pollutants? Less expensive is good as I'm having to do this myself. Would be ideal if I could maybe just rent something. The device would need to measure carbon monoxide, but hopefully unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides as well.
 

In answer to the question about the fumes in the vehicle, I would like to directly answer those. I have developed a sensitivity to unburned and semi-burned hydrocarbons which yields headaches, itchy eyes, stuffy nose, and hives. Thank goodness for these modern engines with their fuel injection and Emissions Control Systems. They reduce the emissions to the point it does not bother me at all.It is such a problem for me that if I get the fumes on me and it in any level on my clothes or skin I've got to go take a shower right away or I'll be miserable all day. The problem for me is that I enjoy working on, being around and driving older classic and high performance vehicles. Without those emissions controls, they do emit quite a bit of unburned and semi burned hydrocarbons as a part of their normal operation.

Some years ago, I bought a brand new automobile that started giving me problems that are associated with fumes coming in the cabin. I asked dealership to look into it a few times and of course they had no system for even measuring them. So I resorted to buying a carbon monoxide detector for the home that was designed to be plugged into a normal AC outlet and had an LCD display of the parts per million of the CO. By using a small DC TO AC inverter I was able to run it in the car for a period of time and note the reading on the LCD display. The CO values were high and I was able to prove this to the dealership and ended up getting the car returned back to the manufacturer as a result....

Regards,
Restoration Rides
 
Last edited:
Back
Top