Follow up Recent FE390 Rebuild. Constant smoking . Intake gasket or valve seals
Hello friends. Sorry to bother you folks again but I'm trying to determine what direction to take. I honestly think that I have more going on here than my rings needing to seat. To sum it up I have about 200 miles put on my rebuilt FE390 in my 68 Fairlane 500 Fastback. The car started smoking blue smoke after about 30 miles was put on it. It happens several minutes after you first start it up and continues until you turn it off. I have about 200 miles on it now and am thinking that the intake gaskets are failing. I'm am burning oil because after driving about 40 miles it is slightly less on my dip stick. No there are no leaks. I have an older Weiand aluminum intake and regular cast iron heads. I called Felpro and they suggested a set of intake gaskets specifically designed for aluminum intakes which I ordered and installed when I first put this motor back together.. Can't remember the number. Some folks think these are crap so I was wondering what you guys think are the best intake gaskets for this set up. My heads were serviced before they were installed and the person who did them made the comment that the seals appeared to be in good shape. I would think that the car would smoke as soon as it is started if the seals are bad but wanted to know if there is any real way of knowing so that I'm not doing things using guess work or is that the only way to go? I did use the gaskets included with the set that run along the back and front of the intake which might have been a bad idea. Is there a good gasket set for this motor with an aluminum intake? The engine seems quite powerful otherwise and the random compression tests I did gave me roughly 150 psi when it was cold. This motor was set up for racing about 20 years ago and has solid lifters, high performance springs and cam. I am still getting some blow by and when I run it for a while I'm noticing a slight oily film on top of my driver's side valve cover that probably originated from the valve cover breather. Any help would sure be appreciated. I was told maybe clogged or blocked oil drain holes. Even though everyone stops what they're doing when this car rumbles by and the rocking of the cam at idle is fantastic, it sure is embarrassing to have the blue smoke coming out around you when you're sitting at a stop light.. Not all of the time but a good bit of the time.
