Thread: Follow up. Success! Recent 390 Rebuilt Smoking Problem/Crossover Ports Blocked Solved

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Attachment 65941fairlane1.JPG68fairlane7.JPGHello again friends. Let me first say that I appreciate everyone's help with my problems with this recent rebuild set of problems. Let me first explain in case you missed my earlier posts. This 68 Ford Fairlane 500 was rescued out of a field after sitting for 20 years after the previous owner raced the crap out of it with the 390 it has and a high rise double 4 barrel set up. The car had a functional scoop so there was a hole in the hood which over the years let water and bugs get into the engine since he took the intake and heads off exposing the block. When I got it the heads with their parts and a Weiand 7282 intake were in the trunk along with various other parts. I took this mess and over the course of 9 months in my spare time brought it back to condition you see in the images I provided. It still could use a paint job but it's OK for now.
Anyway this is why the car was smoking. This problem is very unusual and therefor most satisfying to figure out. What I found was there was a hole in one of the push rod channels in the intake which was letting oil seep into and filling up the intake exhaust crossover channel. Once filled it was introducing oil into #7 exhaust valve through a tiny slit exposed in the croosover port on the head because the gasket Felpro makes has to be near perfect on the head since the port is long and barely gets covered. I called Felpro and the main tech there told me to use some very thin 5000 thick metal to cover over the ports before installing the gaskets. He said that there was no gasket set they offered with the metal plates built in. Not only did he suggest this but several other old school Ford mechanics also recommended this. After investing $400.00 in a nice Edelbrock Performer intake and using just a pinch of the yellow weatherstrip adhesive to hold the plates and gaskets perfectly in place I put everything back together. The end result was nothing short of spectacular. After getting out on some newly paved country roads outside of Tallahassee, we were enjoying our accomplishments fully for the first time. If you can imagine the grins on our faces as I slammed the gas pedal and the 411 posi rear took over spinning the tires through 1st and second gear with the car fish tailing and just screaming down the road like we have never seen or heard it before. The C6 transmission sat for over 20 years and after just replacing the fluid and changing the filter, seals and pan gasket it's shift kit installed by the previous owner came alive again and worked perfectly. This engine was bored .060 over, has a performance cam, solid lifters and heavy duty valve springs and was definitely enjoying all of its upgrades. I wish all of you could have been there to see this car in action as I don't think the possums, bears and deer were getting much out of it. The best part of it all was that I burned all of the old oil out of the headers and exhaust and the smoking has stopped with exception of the white smoking coming from around the tires.

Very cool! Great post, and thanks for taking time to close out the story. Also, great job sticking with it to find the real (multi-faceted) problem, and explaining it so clearly. Hope you stick around and post more.

I believe that should you put the same effort to troubleshooting the white smoke emanating from the tire wells, the problematic source may indeed be attributed to the nut behind the wheel.

Good job!

I love it when a good story comes together. You will not know how you have helped others in the future with your fixes that you so eloquently explained on this forum. Thank you very much for the follow-up.

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Glad to see and hear you've solved the problem(s).

Now, about that tire smoke... I think we'll need photographic evidence to help you narrow down the causes and the symptoms!

The best thing is "rasslin' the bear, and winnin'". Good on ya'.

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Nice work and very nice car! It wouldn't look that nice at all if it sat up here outside for 20 years!

Many thanks everyone for your comments. I could not have done it without your help. Appreciate you folks putting up with me.

Originally Posted by stotzbotz

Many thanks everyone for your comments. I could not have done it without your help. Appreciate you folks putting up with me.

I commend you for sticking with it in the face of off tangent comments, too. Hope you're here for the long haul!