I've gone through every electronic system thus far to make sure it's all within spec. Everything checks out perfect. I'm still getting smoke under WOT and some nice puffs of if in between shifts. It also has an annoying tick that sounds a little like an exhaust leak, but the exhaust is tight.
The car has great low end torque, but runs out of steam at 3k rpm. The idle is rough/shaky. In 3rd, the shifter shakes like mad. Then, there's the smoke (blueish/white). Along with the smoke signals, it pings when I shift, just as I put the pedal back down. My coolant level hasn't change a millimeter for a few weeks now, driving 55mi/day, so I know it's not burning coolant.
This is with NEW head gaskets, valve seals and all carbon cleaned from the heads/pistons.
Does this sound like blow by? Is there a way to actually measure blow by, like by putting some kind of meter inline with the PCV? I thought of putting my vac meter on the dipstick tube to see what happened. It reads up to 15psi positive.
These all lead me to think I'm getting blow by and burning oil. I just changed out the valve stem seals. In doing so, I noticed a number of the exhaust valves had worn guides. Not crazy bad, but I could feel a few mills of play in them. Unfortunately I didn't bother to lap the valves.
Can I rule out the heads at this point or not? They could use a rebuild, but I wonder if the guide are bad enough to cause these issues. Low power? Doesn't seem likely to me.
I did a compression test and it was very inconsistent, ranging from 110 to 150psi. I did a leakdown test and found them within a reasonable range at TDC, but I didn't check anything past TDC (dynamic). Also, the tester I used was a stupid Harbor Freight thing that only goes to 15psi.
I'm asking because I need to make a decision as to rebuilding the heads or not. If it's the shortblock, I may be forced to drop my 347 in which I've been trying to avoid. I just don't have the cash for a rebuild right now.
It's a shame because the car is so nice everywhere else. It's like Kate Beckinsale with bad gas or something.
The car has great low end torque, but runs out of steam at 3k rpm. The idle is rough/shaky. In 3rd, the shifter shakes like mad. Then, there's the smoke (blueish/white). Along with the smoke signals, it pings when I shift, just as I put the pedal back down. My coolant level hasn't change a millimeter for a few weeks now, driving 55mi/day, so I know it's not burning coolant.
This is with NEW head gaskets, valve seals and all carbon cleaned from the heads/pistons.
Does this sound like blow by? Is there a way to actually measure blow by, like by putting some kind of meter inline with the PCV? I thought of putting my vac meter on the dipstick tube to see what happened. It reads up to 15psi positive.
These all lead me to think I'm getting blow by and burning oil. I just changed out the valve stem seals. In doing so, I noticed a number of the exhaust valves had worn guides. Not crazy bad, but I could feel a few mills of play in them. Unfortunately I didn't bother to lap the valves.
Can I rule out the heads at this point or not? They could use a rebuild, but I wonder if the guide are bad enough to cause these issues. Low power? Doesn't seem likely to me.
I did a compression test and it was very inconsistent, ranging from 110 to 150psi. I did a leakdown test and found them within a reasonable range at TDC, but I didn't check anything past TDC (dynamic). Also, the tester I used was a stupid Harbor Freight thing that only goes to 15psi.
I'm asking because I need to make a decision as to rebuilding the heads or not. If it's the shortblock, I may be forced to drop my 347 in which I've been trying to avoid. I just don't have the cash for a rebuild right now.
It's a shame because the car is so nice everywhere else. It's like Kate Beckinsale with bad gas or something.