well I ran a streight edge on the intake and used a fealer gaudge under it and it was out .003 ..I didnt do it to the heads though.

 

Good idea. Cap off the TB. Unless I missed it, what are your vacuum readings? Beacause of the hunting idle I'm thinking vacuum leak. One thing at a time. Let us know what you find. Interesting

 

well at idle the motor pulls 15 inches..I think I might need a boost sensitive pcv valve. like the ones that came in the grand nationals.I went out and drove it a bit more with the pcv off and the tb blocked and it seems to be clearing up a bit.it is not smoking near as bad as it was now.I am going to drive it to work tomarrow and see if there is a diffrence or not.
what will blocking the tb and pcv off do?I believe it will cause the motor to build crank case pressure and there for blow my rear and front mains.I do have a big chrome filter that presses into the rubber snout where the oil fill cap should be so I dont think it will build to much pressure.will it?I also used my old pcv and left it in the valve cover and blocked the line out of the intake.at first my valve cover got soaked in oil from the 10 minute ride I went on.then I took some napkin and stuck it in the snout of the valve so no oil can blow by.I will fill everyone in tomarrow on what diffrence it makes.
thanks guys.

 

Don't plug the PCV off. Put a breather on it if you can so you can relieve some cranckase pressure. It may take a bit of drive time to burn all the oil out of the cylinders. Wonder if it has affected the 02 sensor...

 

I run a K&N valve cover filter on one side and the pcv on the other. If the pcv is not defective, then your not getting enough baffaling at the cover.

 

what I did was stuck a peice of napkin in the nipple of the old valve so it didnt blow oil everywhere.my oil cap is no longer on the passenger side of the car, it is on the drivers side and it has a breather filter on it instead of a cap now so I believe that will release any pressure.

 

wow that is sweet......nice ride man. but ya the breather I have is just like that one on your car.if I knew how to post a pic I would do it.

 

If your PCV put that much oil on the engine that quickly without any vacuum, you might have found the source of oil consumption. I had a similar problem with my 406, althought not quite as bad as you describe. First question i have is how much oil to do have in there. I have a 6 Qt oil pan and made the mistake of thinking i should have 6 Qts of oil (plus filter) in the motor. That turned out to be a Qt too much. Next i had to use a compressor filter in the PCV line to separate out the oil (i have to drain it in roughly 1000 miles). I assume you have a breather of some sort in the passenger side valve cover or still have it connected to the TB.

If it turns out that the PCV is not the source. I'll ask what kind of heads you're using and did you have the heads or blocked milled? If not done exactly correct, the intake may note seal. Also are you using a high volume oil pump with hyd lifters. Might be putting too much oil in the valve covers. Taller valve covers might help a bit too and baffling is a must.

Good luck figuring it out.

 

stock 113 vette heads with a bit of port work and 202 160 valves.I dont have a breather as of yet in the passenger side but I will tomarrow.and yes I think this is the problem.me and the wifey just went out for a longer drive and then pulled into a lit stall at a car wash and I couldnt see any smoke at idle and just barley any when she reved it up to like 5 grand.I could deffinaly smell it though. also what kind of filter did you use in the pcv line and where do I get on from?also I have the stock 5 quart pan on it.

 

 

The filter i'm using is a std air compressor filter i bought in Sears. I just took out the element and put it between the PCV and the intake. It's small and it has a valve so it can be drained without removing. I mounted it sort of behind the battery (tie wrapped the hoses to the cruise control bracket), but your's may be a little different. Without it and 6+ Qts in the pan i was getting detontation from all the oil being sucked in the intake. Cutting back a Qt and using this filter has solved the problem.....other than having to drain the filter every so often.

You might want to cut back 1/2 Qt of oil too. The stroker crank reaches deeper into the pan and can sling more oil around than the stocker. If you're road racing or doing a lot of high G turns, you might want to consider an aftermarket pan.

Good luck.

 

I got to this point in the thread and decided I didn't want to read all of the responses. You need to check that thing for a manifold vacuum leak; most likely the bottom of the ports are pulling oil mist out of the valley... This would also cause the "hunt" for idle.

What cylinder heads are you using and what mods have been done on them.
-Jeb

 

I'd also like to know:

How the spark plugs look,

Who did the short block assembly and

What rings are you using.

It may just be oil getting sucked into the intake port at the bottom. That's one reason I always use and recommend using sensor-safe silicone sealant on both sides of the intake gasket around the air and coolant ports.

Closely inspecting the old intake gaskets may show if oil is getting sucked in at the bottom of the port. The impressions around the port openings on the gaskets should be be unbroken. There should also be signs of oil on the lower edge(s) of the gasket(s) right at the port opening.

If you completely remove the PCV system and run only breathers on both valve covers, that will eliminate the PCV as a possible source. So if the engine continues to burn oil and smoke, the cause has to be somewhere else.

If you end up pulling the intake again, clean everything off, then set the intake on the engine with no gasket in place. Look from the front where the intake and head meet (the area where the intake gasket would reside). The gap should be equal top to bottom (NO 'V' shape) and the gap should be the same on both the driver and passenger side of the engine.

Other possibilities are low tension oil rings; top/second ring in wrong position; ring(s) installed upside down.

Also, since the engine is burning that much oil, the 02 is probably dead from contamination.

Just my thoughts.

Jake

 

I was thinking exactly what Jake mentioned. A second ring installed upside down will give horrible oil control. If it has to come apart check the inside edge for the chamfer.

 

ok but the car hasn't always smoked.It did run good without any oil consumption for like a week or two after the rebuild.I bought some oil dye that I can detect with a black light that I will stick in it saturday and sunday I will pull it apart again and see if it is for sure the intake leaking.if it wasnt the intake though how in the heck could my lower and upper plenum get soaked in fresh oil?and how could the # 7 exhaust valve have 1/8 on a inch of oil on top of it when I pulled the intake?
thanks guys for all the help
oh ya and it will detonate if I advance the timming at all from 0* because of all the oil.

 

also how much blow-by should I have????and what should the compresion numbers be?My pistons are for 10.1 with 56 cc heads.

 

Sorry for the delay on responding. Yes I did use RTV on both sides of the gasket on the coolant jackets and intake ports as well. You have to use it sparingly so as not to squeeze it into the port after torqueing down the intake. I ran a small bead around the ports but not right on the edge. I was trying to compensate for the squeeze effect. This takes a little longer but the end result is worth the effort. My problem was oil consumption and build up on the tops of the valves. Looking back at this now I also had oil in the runners when I used the Felpro gaskets with the TPI base manifold. The oil would get into the plenum at times but mostly mist not puddles.

I don't know what the Mr. Gasket (ultra) manifold part number but I believe its the standard chevy intake manifold kit. I will try to find that info when I get home. They are soft and flexible not hard like the Felpro's.

I would change the gaskets and use RTV if I was you. Thats what I did.

Good luck!
John

 

thanks and I am deffinaly going to try the intake gasket one more time with the MR.Gasket ultras and a bit of rtv and see if that clears it up.I am also going to use some oil dye that you detect with a black light and see if it is going past the gaskets for sure

 

There are several different things that could cause your condition; you've tried to address a few of them already. Unfortunately, there's no way to pin-point exactly which one it is, so all you can do is check all of them out - one by one.

Start with the easiest/least difficult to do first and, if the cause isn't found and corrected, progress to the most difficult - like checking the pistons/rings.

Oil can get into the intake tract a few different ways. For example, air flow into the engine doesn't always travel in one/single direction (i.e. from the plenum to the combustion chamber.) Valve overlap can cause oil mist to migrate back up the intake tract. The same thing occurs in the header; exhaust flow doesn't always move from the exhaust valve to the muffler. It moves back and forth, pulsating.

Improperly installed rings on a single piston many times will not show up right away. But it doesn't take long for the problem to surface. Many years ago, while being distracted by too much conversation and Seagram's V.O., I installed the top compression ring in the #2 land and the 2nd ring up top. Engine seemed fine at first - just like you said; for a week or so - but then the effected plug began to oil foul.

I did just like you and checked all the obvious things first, but when the cause wasn't found, I finally pulled the #8 piston and immediately saw what I'd done. **** happens!

On another occasion, I installed freshly built, +.060 427 BB, assembled by a machine shop, into a 'F' body. Fired the engine and it emptied the oil pan out through the exhaust in 20 miles of driving. Can you imagine the amount of smoke pouring out the tail pipe during that drive???

When I tore it down, I found the shop had installed 396 rings instead of 427 rings, which wouldn't seat and gave HUGE ring end gaps. **** happens!

When I have such a problem, one thing I always do is NOT ASSUME something's done "right". Even the best engine builders, like the NASCAR and Formula 1 guys, make the same kinds of mistakes. **** happens!

When you post "but . . ." and "how can . . .", I feel that what you're doing is mentally discounting certain possibilites. This isn't how I address similar problems. When I encounter a problem - even one like yours - EVERYTHING is on the table for re-examination. EVERYTHING that could even remotely be the cause.

Remember the recent posts where another Forum member's engine had one wrong sized piston installed - one out of eight. Piston slap way above normal, so he tore down the engine. He first reported everything was 'fine" and was about to re-assemble the engine. I sent him a message saying something like, Whoa, STOP, don't do that; keep looking". Since he hadn't found the cause why re-assemnble the engine and expect the slap to have magically disappeared!??. More detailed examination discovered a wrong sized piston. **** happens!

Something to consider: You've changed intake gaskets, now, several times. I'm sure each time you've taken great care to insure they were being installed correctly. Yet, the problem persists. You should now be thinking "I keep doing the same thing over and over, I expect a different result but ain't gettin' it." My diagnostic-meter tells me that it's about time to begin looking elsewhere.

I can only give the best advice I can, but it's sorta like the horse to water analogy. Just try to remember, the Devil's in the details; CLOSELY examine everything - the cause is right there; you just have to see it.

Just my thoughts. Hope they help

Jake

 

It's a royal PITA but if you have to,you can pull the piston in question out without pulling the engine. Luckily, our vettes have the crossover sub frame far out in front to allow this, a few brackets and lines and drop the pan. Hope you used a one piece oil pan gasket. But like I said it's a royal PITA.