Ok, need some advice from the experts on here!!

I have a 63 Conv with the 327/300, picked her up a few months ago.

Just picked her up from the Mechanic, bought her to the exhaust shop and she's home now.

Had an Electronic Ignition put in, new wires, plugs, etc... Also swapped out into an Edelbrock 1406 Carb and had Hooker Perf Ceramic Coated Headers installed and stainless steel pipes made running into Flowmaster 40's. Yes, I kept all the original parts.

Running great, sounds great. The Carb was installed before the pipes were cut and was tuned with open headers.

I am now blowing white smoke, low to heavy at times. Have not pushed her very hard. Checked my oil and coolant, no signs of contamination.

Could this be just needing to retune the carb? or something more serious?

Thank you all in advance!!!

 

White smoke usually means coolant is getting into the combustion chambers of your vehicle. This generally happens because of a cracked or leaking head gasket, which allows coolant to seep into your cylinders.

 

That's what I was thinking also, hoping I was wrong.

 

Take the car or a bottle coolant from the car and have it tested at a radiator shop.
Good luck.

 

I'm with MD M, that white smoke sounds like coolant intrusion into your cylinders. The Edelbrock 1406, with electric choke, is a good carb and right out of the box, is typically a bit on the lean side with no other adjustments. And, if by chance it was
allowing more fuel in than it should, you'd be seeing darker smoke like Black, not white. How many miles did you put on it before you started noticing the white smoke?
To rule out, or rule in, coolant issues, there's a relatively cheap tester to use. It's available from a lot of the local Parts Houses. I got mine years ago from NAPA.
Check out the pic. You get the car warmed up to operating temp, carefully remove the expansion tank cap (or radiator, if that's the configuration) and see the vial on the right? You fill it with the dark blue fluid up to the line (about 1/4 full) and push the rubber cone at the bottom of the vial down
into the neck of your expansion tank and then take the squeeze bulb and put it on top, start squeezing which draws up vapors from the surface of your circulating (and warm) coolant. As the bubbles permeate through the blue fluid,
if there's a presence of combustion gases in your coolant (maybe by head gasket failure or something is 'cracked', that dark blue fluid will start to turn Yellow within a minute.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

 

Thanks!!

 

Thanks!!!

 

Anthony - If you do use that Block Tester Kit, one of the instructions is to lower the coolant level before starting the procedure. That's more for those with radiators that might have the coolant level up near the cap and the test wants to avoid any direct splash onto/into the tester vial. They only want vapors being drawn up, not liquid.
For a midyear running a stock aluminum expansion tank, since the fluid level is usually about half way down, you should be good to go...once you have the engine up to operating temp.
Keep us posted.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

 

Check your dipstick to see if the oil is milky or not the right color. Also, check the radiator fluid to see if there is oil in it. This will confirm the blown head gasket. You can also run a compression test to see where the leak is. Bad luck guy.

 

Wonder if there is some oil, or other residue in the headers, pipes or mufflers that is "burning off?" How long has the smoke been appearing?

 

Checked for that earlier and it all looked good

 

That was my first thought also but I've put around 200 miles on her and still smoking. Dipstick and Radiator both look fine and not showing any contamination though

 

You can also pull your plugs and check them for color. Cylinder with coolant leak plug electrode will be clean and white colored. Other plugs should be normal black/grey.

A coolant leak will also show up as a lower level in the radiator expansion tank over time.

Some of us can actually smell the glycol in the tailpipe exhaust. I guess too many years in the chemical plants making the stuff. .

Larry

 

You may be able to identify it yourself. It has a sweet smell. Nothing like oil or gas.

Tom

 

It could also be your intake manifold gasket. I had that problem before. Oil was being sucked out of the valley area into the intake ports on the head. The gasket had slumped down allowing this.
Is your car smoking out of both sides of the exhaust. If just on one side that would narrow it down a little.

 

I'm wondering if you're not just burning off some of the protective coatings on the inside of the headers and exhaust tube/mufflers.
You might just try driving it more to see if it clears up. You never know what color of smoke those chemicals might make. BUT.....make sure your oil still looks like black coffee, not coffee with cream, and that the rad antifreeze/cooland stays up to the proper level during your drive. cheers!

 

If the coolant level stays good look at what you changed. my guess is the carburetor is slightly rich. Why did you make these changes to a nice designed engine, you will have very little gain.

 

Is it an automatic? Could be a leaky modulator.