iF YOU ARE GOING TO REBUILD THE CARB, GO WITH A HOLLEY KIT. NOTHING BEATS ORIGINAL PARTS. DOES YOUR CAR HAVE THE CHARCOAL CANNISTER? IT COULD BE THE CAUSE OF YOUR SMELL. THERE IS A THREAD (SOMEWHERE IN HERE) DEALING WITH THAT.

   BY THE WAY, ARE YOU GOING TO SIGN UP FOR CRUISE FOR THE CURE IN SEPTEMBER? WE NEED MORE SO CAL GUYS TO SHOW UP....SEE THE THREAD FOR POSTED IN THE LAST 24 HOURS.

                                              REID '72 T-TOP

A holley Fast kit should work well with the rebuild.

One thing Iwould look for are are spilt dried gas/dirt ring on the intake manifold.  Sometimes you will develop a pin hole in the pump diagragms and when you apply pressure some fuel will leak out of the covers and dribble on to the intake.  I'm hoping you know what I am talking about when I say pump diagragms those are the 1" by 1" square things on the bottoms of each fuel bowl.

On anther note there are any number of things that can cause strong gas fumes.  Worn engine with lots of blow by, leaky exhaust gaskets, emission components not working correctly, Choke not coming all the way open, improper carb tuning are just a few that come to mind.

with the fuel smell in the rear... 

either a hose leak or incomplete combustion come to mind..

Thanks to all for the responses so far. It looks like I have a lot of sleuthing to do. I think I will start with the Holley rebuild kit and go from there.

By the way - I WILL be at the Cruzin' for A Cure in September. I'll see you SoCal "Wild Bunch" guys in Costa Mesa!

Check that plastic splash box back on the gas tank.  Mine had a crack and always smelled like gas.  By the way, you could just start burning race fuel and it would smell very nice.