A little update. Last night Dan, Don, and I worked on Dans car and got the intake reinstalled. We used the Mr Gasket intake gaskets but did not use the rubber end seals. We used Permatex The Right Stuff and created our own end seals from that. We then used the Ultra Gray Sealant on the heads and on top of the side gaskets, then put an extra coating on the intake where it meets the gasket. Basically, we gooped the h*** out of it.

We let it cure 24 hours and tonight we fired it up. It smoked a little for a few seconds then stopped, probably because there was so much oil in the cylinders and headers. After a while it stopped and Dan took it around the block. Then he and I took our cars for a long ride to dinner and back and there was no smoke and Dan said the power was much better.

There was only a hint of smudging on the white insulators, and again I think that might be from the tons of oil in the heads and cylinders. That engine has to be coated inside from the amount that was sucking in. He is off this weekend and we plan on taking some very long drives both days to see what happens then. If nothing else the oil problem is 99% better, and as Jerry and some others suggested, the guides may be letting a little in. If that is the case he plans on just living with it until he recovers financially from building the car and then we can properly tear into it and fix it right.

The other thing is that the engine only has about 500 miles on it (maybe less) and the rings might not have fully seated yet. We took the compression test again and got about 195 across the board, with two cylinders at 190 and one at 200. So we will just wait and see.

Again guys, thanks for all the input and help.

Don