Re: Tom's oily skin...

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

On Tue, 1 Sep 1998 jmbrodsky@domain.elided wrote:

>         If the oil smoke is that bad, try this.  After you run the engine 
>      for a good 1/2 hour, then clean your hands, and wipe one finger in the 
>      exhaust pipe.  If it comes out oily then bingo.  My Uncle taught me 
>      this when buying a truck.  If it comes out black and chalky then it 
>      doesn't sound like oil smoke.  If it's a leaky head gasket, then you 

OK.. 

It *was* running for about a half hour (maybe less) from 5:10-6:40 or 
so.. it's 9:50, and I just went outside to do the tailpipe test (all 8 
spark plugs are laying on the cowl, so I could very well run the motor 
again to see).

What came off on my fingers wasn't definitely oil, or definitely chalk.  
It was chalky, but it stuck to my fingers pretty well.. and rubbing my 
fingers didn't convince me it was oily either.  It was very black (the 
motor's quite possibly running too rich, with the wrong jetting in the carb)

>      will see a definite drop in the coolant level over time.  If the v8 is 
>      equipped with a radiator overflow/recovery tank, you will notice the 
>      level in there going down.  Maybe keep an eye on that for a while, and 
>      see what comes of that.  I would only as a last resort, remove the 

It does have the reservoir.. but I don't plan on having the motor in the 
'72 long enough to really check..

I checked the oil level.. dip stick actually reads low.. I didn't check 
it after filling it, and the oil pan gasket and rear main leak anyhow 
(new ones on the shelf, part of the R&R)

>      Drain and refill with good gas (old gas will retain water and burn 
>      poorly thus creating white smoke) and water goes to the bottom of the 
>      tank where it goes into the pickup quicker.  Also get a bottle of 
>      alcohol-water absorbant, to try to remove the water that is in the 
>      tank (if any)  Remember, your dips$#t mechanic could have done 
>      anything!  Drain and refill the fuel tank.  Change the fuel filter.  

I think I put some additives in the gas at one point... but I could be wrong.

>      back, but by all means wait to remove the heads!  Also check for water 
>      in the valve covers if the oil cap was left off, or if your mechanic 
>      did something.  Water can leak past the already worn valve guides and 

I peeked in the oil cap before turning it over the first time to see if 
there was any evidence of foul play... oh, like a big glob of SAND or 
something.. didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

>         Wow!  You're gonna have a V8!

<GRIN>  And that, my friend, is the problem. ;)

This weekend is my best chance to get the motor swapped out.. I have no 
other plans, I'll have a step-dad handy for help if I need it.. I have 3 
days to get it done.. 

And the next weekend I'll be in Springfield.. and there's some wheelin' 
the weekend or two after that.. and this *is* Montana and winter is fast 
approaching, so better to get it done NOW.

And thus, I haven't had a lot of time to debug the motor.. and do things 
like drain the gas, refill, etc.

At the moment, what I'm trying to determine is if the motor should be 
thrown in NOW, then deal with what needs changed (I hooked a vacuum gauge 
up, and found NO manifold vacuum, and the only vacuum port on the carb I 
could get to registered on the gauge only when I worked the throttle.. 
more trouble shooting to be done I guess.  The carb needs adjusted and 
re-jetted.), or is something wrong that I should NOT swap the motor in, 
or that I should take care of *while* swapping the motor.

*While* I'm swapping it, the flywheel will get resurfaced and I'll 
inspect the clutch (has roughly 20k on it).. I'm also replacing the rear 
main oil seal and the oil pan gasket (valve covers were done 2 years 
ago).  Those I know need done while I'm at it.

But all of this smoke bothers me.. maybe it just needs fresh gas and some 
miles on it and the smoke'll go away... or maybe it won't, and I'll be 
upset as I'm driving around in a smoke cloud..

I don't *want* to do an overhaul on the motor at this point.. I *do* have 
another 304 sitting in Bozeman w/ wide T19 and Dana 20 that could just 
slide right in... but the 304 in the '72 is a "known good" (at least, I 
think it is), while the 304 in Bozeman has been raced.. and while it's a 
strong runner, it's been raced. ;)

Now, when I drove the '72 daily, it would puff smoke when I'd start it.. 
but the smoke would then stop.

So smoke on startup was normal.  Smoke while running was not.

The only thing that I know has changed is - it's sat for 1.5 years w/o 
being run.  

So *what* can happen to a motor that's just sitting for over a year that 
would take it from "little smoke" to "continous smoke"?

And what caused the original white smoke puff at startup?  I hear that's 
a common flaw in the IH valves.. is this an advanced stage?  Or something 
else entirely?

Arggh...

I *want* my V8, but I'm not interested in swapping motors 5 times...

It gets harder and harder to drive that 4cyl to work each day... ;-)

-Tom