If the gas smell is coming from the top of the gas tank, hoses, & fittings.
Obviously, a fix of the cause is needed. Then, since the smell is evidently
coming through the car body metal--
Check for rust pinholes, etc. on the rear deck and top wells, and missing
sealant around the edge of the tank access plate.
The top tank gasket is also suspect. (It is between the top plate of the
fuel pump and sender assembly and the tank body.)
Since this is a 99, it may have had the pump and sender assembly removed at
one time to correct a known problem with the fuel pressure bi-pass valve
mounted on the pump and sender assembly. In some parts of the US, gas tank
pinholing is not unknown. This is usually a result of winter chemicals on
the road, and poor plating on the tank.

"Ron" > wrote in message
...
On Mar 10, 8:26 pm, pws > wrote:
> pws wrote:
> > Ron wrote:
> >> I have an overwhelming gas smell inside the car. Tank hasn't been
> >> overfilled and the cap is good. Been this way for a while. Just now
> >> getting around to trying to fix it. Any ideas?
>
> > I would check the fuel line and fuel rail/fuel injectors for leakage. I
> > had a rubber fuel hose on my current Miata split on me one time and it
> > was spraying a lot of gas into the engine compartment.
>
> > This could be the same thing but a very small leak. It obviously would
> > not take much to have the interior reeking with gas fumes.
>
> > Pat
>
> Oh yeah, I would look closely at the hoses coming from the fuel pump as
> well.
> It is on the shelf behind the seats, underneath the carpet, so a small
> leak here would really smell up the interior badly.
>
> HTH and let us know!
>
> Pat

That sounds more like. It is definitely not coming from under the hood.