Intermittent puff of blue

73LemonTwist said:

Parts ordered and in transit. Helper lined up (brother). Now just need "refreshments" in the fridge to celebrate success with... Thanks for the help folks. Will post summary when done...

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If you have not done this before a few tips. Depending on the tool you want clean access to pull down on the spring. Being able to pull down straight will help removing and installing the keepers. Some cars I unbolt the master and lay it on its side. Do the harder to get ones first. Cylinders 7 and 8. Your arms will thank you later. Take a rubber mallet and rap the edge of each retainer 3 or 4 times. I do it as soon as the rocker shafts are off. Doing that loosens the pinch between the keepers and retainer. Good lighting. Lay rags to prevent a keeper from dropping into the engine. A small pencil magnet helps at times. I also find it better to wipe oil from the keepers and my fingers when going back together.

pnora said:

If you have not done this before a few tips. Depending on the tool you want clean access to pull down on the spring. Being able to pull down straight will help removing and installing the keepers. Some cars I unbolt the master and lay it on its side. Do the harder to get ones first. Cylinders 7 and 8. Your arms will thank you later. Take a rubber mallet and rap the edge of each retainer 3 or 4 times. I do it as soon as the rocker shafts are off. Doing that loosens the pinch between the keepers and retainer. Good lighting. Lay rags to prevent a keeper from dropping into the engine. A small pencil magnet helps at times. I also find it better to wipe oil from the keepers and my fingers when going back together.

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Have not done this before so it will be a learning experience for sure. Thanks for the tips - they will help...

I had a 68 dart with a 318. When I got it she burned 1 quart in 150 miles. After the valve seal change 1500 miles per quart. Kim

I'm having a similar problem with my 426 W. DLI crate motor from 2006. Like you, NO smoke on start up. Compression test all cylinders range 185-200. Spark plugs showing oil on left bank only. Right bank even tan/brown appearance. Smokes only after stabbing throttle hard, never at idle, start up, or cruising. New valve seals 2 years ago (because I could). Baffles are present in valve covers. Bore scope shows some carbon on piston tops. Oil in intake manifold mostly on left side, and in intake runners on left side. Malfunctioning PCV system will cause buildup of crankcase pressure under acceleration, and oil may blow past a seal or gasket. The intake gasket is in place, and I must say the port matching job done at DLI is perfect, and the steel intake manifold to valley gasket is visible. The oil residue is heavier downstream from the gasket on the floor of the intake runners in the head on the left side and on top of the one closed valve I could see well.
It seems obvious to me the oil is blowing past the valley gasket on the left side. Turns out the intake manifold fasteners were at 35 lb/ft when I checked, so I retorqued them to 50 as specified in the torque specs. I have no confidence this will reseal the gasket, but I have had local opinions supporting the idea so am trying.
The larger issue to me is WHY am I running a teenie tiny PCV valve and hose rather than racing type open breathers with filter/screen. My deal is certainly not stock, as evidenced by the high compression. I will not be replacing my PCV system. It is an early emissions deal from the sixties which has no place on a high compression performance driven engine, and maybe has resulted in a problem due to oil blow by due to a loose intake manifold.
Carbs are easy to remove, Plugs a little fiddly on a big block B body, but doable. A bore scope can be borrowed or rented.
I am not yet back together. Waiting on NGK V power 6 plugs, which don't seem to be in the system any more, but my NAPA guy seems to think he found them and are back ordered. So the results of my detective work and crude mechanical abilities is yet unknown.
Good luck with your deal. I hope you find the culprit.

I have ordered both the OE style exhaust shields, as well as silicone umbrella seals for the exhaust valves. The question is how do I determine where to position them on the valve stem?

With the OE shields, can I just push them down the stem to the guide, and let the guide push them up the valve stem the first time the exhaust valve opens (can I just rotate the crank a couple times by hand to set them) to find their correct position?

That idea clearly wouldn't work if I decide to use the umbrella seals. How do I set the location of the umbrella seals on the valve stem? If the old shields are still in place, that should give me an indication of the valve travel(?). Then I assume I could use that as the location for the umbrella seal as long as the travel isn't greater than the height of the umbrella seal above the seat? If the old shields aren't in place, is there a way that I can determine the actual valve travel?

Thanks for the help...

Just push them down the stem to the guide. They will find their place when u start it. Clean out the pieces of old rubbers. Kim

Thanks Kim...

OK folks, a new question. Decided to replace the intake gaskets as I have oil leaks front and back corners of the seals on the intake.

Got the top of the engine stripped down, and the intake manifold studs removed. However, for the life of me, I can't get the intake to break free from the intake gaskets. Anyone got any tricks to getting the intake lifted off?

Thanks...

73LemonTwist said:

OK folks, a new question. Decided to replace the intake gaskets as I have oil leaks front and back corners of the seals on the intake.

Got the top of the engine stripped down, and the intake manifold studs removed. However, for the life of me, I can't get the intake to break free from the intake gaskets. Anyone got any tricks to getting the intake lifted off?

Thanks...

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As long as the bolts are out you can drive a screwdriver between the manifold and head. I prefer to stay away from the port area. Those old paper gaskets can stick pretty darn good.

Did u ever say what size motor? If so I missed it somehow. If small block take a big screw driver and tap it in between the block and the intake at the front. Looks like I’ve been treed.

It's a 340. As far as I can tell the intake has never been off of it before. The seal along the front of the intake appears to be a foam type seal - its not cork or rubber.

Somewhere I read that there may be locating sleeves around a couple of the manifold bolts - anyone seen these, or run into them?

There is a locating pin front and rear in the center of the manifold. None on the sides. Use the screw driver trick off to the side of center. 1 side will come up then do the other side. It will be like it’s welded on. Kim

73LemonTwist said:

It's a 340. As far as I can tell the intake has never been off of it before. The seal along the front of the intake appears to be a foam type seal - its not cork or rubber.

Somewhere I read that there may be locating sleeves around a couple of the manifold bolts - anyone seen these, or run into them?

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No sleeves period. More mis-information. There should be two locating dowels dead center front the rear on the block where the intake indexes on. Some have them some don't. Just pry it off.

I know what he is thinking now. There is 2 spots on each head for a plastic grommet for lack of a better word to hold the side gaskets in place so u can install the intake without the gasket falling out if place. The intake bolts go thru them. Here is a crude pic. Kim

Well, pretty much a successful day yesterday. Got all the stem seals replaced. Like you folks suggested, they were all hard and brittle, some were cracked, none were missing or laying in pieces at the bottom of the spring. Found a broken spring though. So, on hold waiting for springs to arrive - nobody local had any on a Saturday afternoon.

The rope trick worked great once we figured out how much to use in the cylinder. There was one gut wrenching moment when the rope wouldn't come out of the cylinder!! No amount of tugging was loosening it up. What the "heck" is holding it in there?? Finally got a screwdriver, and pushed a bunch more into the plug hole and then it all came out - somehow it had gotten kinked over itself inside the cylinder and was too big to come out of the plug hole.

Anxious to finish buttoning things up for a test run...

The car has been running a couple weeks now. You folks nailed it - stem seals it was. I have had no occurrences of blue smoke since completing the job. Thanks for the help and tips...