BerlinaBob here: -Caution: some homes have their natural-gas/waterheaters located in the garage (here in SunDiego about 60% are that way due to lax old/building-codes which have been since changed due to tragic loss of property & lives; --although electric-waterheaters probably are not a hazzard) which is an extremely dangerous situation, owing that just the gasoline-fumes alone will hover along the floor and once reaching the flame beneath any gas-waterheater, will instantly ignite like a bomb and blow the roof-off to say nothing of the ensuing fire!!! Thus, if you rent a home with such a natural-gas/waterheater location, insist upon the waterheater being relocated to a suitable housing outside (avail.at HomeDumpo); --and in the meantime best leave the garage-door open (at least enough to let fresh-air circulate therein).
Another item to check, is to make sure that the fuel-line running from the engine-mounted(lower-Rt.Fnt.) Fuelpump to the Carburetor is a rigid/Steel-line, NOT flex/rubber; -owing that pressurized flex-lines can easily fail for various reasons, and so are to be used on the suction/inlet-side of the fuelpump ONLY! Hotrodders often run neoprene-rubber lines to their carburetors, either out of ignorance or "temporary" convenience; ---so beware!
If you are thinking of trying to repair a leaking Fueltank yourself (some Radiator-repair shops do it), then carefully drop a nearly empty fueltank, dump any remaining fuel (good for killing weeds) washout well with soapy-water then let sit opened in the sun for a day or two (radiator-shops insert dry-ice to drive-out the residual gasoline-fumes). Remember, an empty fueltank is far more explosive than an empty one... as an experiment in my youth, I installed a Sparkplug into a huge old "black" 100-gal/steel-barrel of the type having a ring-clamp holding its circular-lid; and dropped-in a few drops of gasoline. Then let the barrel sit in the hot summer-sun for several hours, so that the droplets of gasoline would become well-vaporized therein, --at which point I got back about 50-ft laying-flat on the vacant-lot, and touched the wire from the battery to the ignition-coil adjacent the sparkplug and.... CaaBoooooom!!! ---Blew that heavy(10-lb?) clamped-on lid some 100+ft. into the air (looking like a flying-saucer, --much to the glee of a 12-yr boy) -oh what dangerous fun!
Hope this memo will aptly advise anyone not knowing about such vital precautions; -we don't want any unnecessary loss of nifty C3's...
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