engines smoking is it rings or valves?

grumpyvette · Oct 6, 2008

you've just entered an accelerated learning curve, stick to reading the books Ive pointed and the links Ive posted out until you understand the basics
then Ill walk you step by step thru re-building your engine,if its necessary, its JUST not that difficult! but first verify it needs rebuilding and not just new valve seals, or the heads rebuilt or replaced, the short block may still be ok.
besides THE FIRST STEP IS NOT TO ASSUME YOU NEED A TOTAL REBUILD, you need to do a leak down test to find out if its bad rings or something less expensive like bad valve seals. keep in mind a badly installed or defective intake manifold gasket can allow the intake ports to suck oil from the lifter gallery and produce significant volumes of blue smoke on hard acceleration.

sure you can throw thousands of dollars at the problem, but your far better off identifying the source and fixing the problem, then as your wallet and knowledge, and skills grow you can build a second performance engine to swap into the car when YOUR ready

http://shop.enginekits.com/osb/addt...12=12258&Variation44=12449&Quantity=1&ID=2117

http://www.adperformance.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=277_278&products_id=673

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/116_0406_cylinder_leakdown_tester/photo_10.html

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/116_0406_cylinder_leakdown_tester/index.html

this (ABOVE) explains the basics

most good shops need and use one, summit and jegs sell them

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=PRO-66839&N=700+4294854847+4294854846+115&autoview=sku

I could show you step bye step how and why things need to be tested and what the results dictate
look at the worst you can buy and install a new engine for about $2k-3k depending on your bank ballance and desired hp, but its far more likely that a valve job. new rings,gaskets and bearings will get you on the road again for weell under $1k and a week end or twos work
its just as likely to be the heads need rebuilding,(valve seals, valve guides, springs, a valve job) as it is the rings are worn out!

one quick test you can do, replace the plugs first, then find a long clear road with little if any traffic, and while the plugs are fresh have the wife follow behind the vette in a second car, put the car in first gear ,floor it,rapidly but don,t spin the tires,then run up to about 4500-5000rpm in gear and let off the gas without taking it out of first gear and let the engine bring the cars speed lower without use of brakes
more smoke on acceleration usually indicates rings, more smoke on de-acceleration usually indicates heads need work, if its both the engine probably needs rebuild/refreshing
Smoke on de-acceleration is generally worn valve-seals & worn valve guides but can also have an intake gasket not sealing well on the cylinder heads sucking oil in from the lifter gallery or poor ring seal if you didn,t break them in properly, and they didn,t seat properly on recent rebuild , especially if the cylinders were not honed correctly.

But even if valve guides are worn valve seals are fairly easy to replace on the car

Keep in mind the worn guides may wear the new seals out faster then normal due to greater valve sideways movement/clearances, and that improper valve train geometry wears out valve guides far faster than correctly aligned valve train components

white or light blue smoke tends to be burnt oil,or coolant leaks like a bad head gasket, black smoke indicates its running much too rich and you need to address the carb and/or ignition issues, causing black smoke as those might be the problem that can accelerate engine wear.

viewtopic.php?f=57&t=940

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1933&p=5124&hilit=rope#p5124

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=404&hilit=+rope

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2091&hilit=valve+seals

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=181&p=2342&hilit=+valve+seals#p2342

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1053&p=1989&hilit=+valve+seals#p1989

Allen said:
Im seriously thinking about rebuilding a mild 350 sbc engine I purchased,from a neighbor who wrecked his mid 1988 chevy pick-up truck.
I bought the wreck for $200, as a source of a doner/project engine.
I might even go the 383 SBC route after reading several links,on this site.
The idea, would be too gain, a bit more power and durability while replacing my current cars engine, as it now has over 137k miles , and smokes a bit
(I assume worn rings or valve guides?)
so Id swap it out after the new replacement engines built!
any ideas

engines smoking is it rings or valves?

grumpyvette

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