rings are cast cylinders honed fuel pump is stock ford replacement ignition is duraspark 2 valve covers are stock pcv replaced no smoke out of the breather rebuilt to my definition is everything xcept the casting numbers, using original parts with in spex. new bearings all around, and rings. will do a compression test and leak down this weekend
I bought a freshly rebuilt 302 --- it was never run and still had the assembly lube, the only problem was it had an oil pump from a 351 installed so my distributor wouldn't mount. I swapped in a high pressure pump that I had from a 289. The 302 started smoking after about 500 miles out of one exhaust pipe. Spark plugs were tan on one bank, black and greasy on the other. The high pressure oil pump that I had was from a "smoky" 289. The pump pushed about 60 lbs at idle and 75 lbs at revs. I changed the valve seals and the manifold gasket, still smoked. I re-ringed it on the bad side and downgraded the oil pump from high pressure to stock. Smoke stopped completely. Now I'm wondering if the high pressure oil pump caused the problem, because the 302 was running as smoky as the old 289. Anyway, good luck with yours.
I knew a guy that worked at a 'rebuilder' shop for a while, and they considered a 20% return rate as 'acceptable'....
You don't mention if the heads were reworked. That's where I think the problem is. Even if the heads had a new valve job, the guides could have been knurled instead of replaced. Knurling will tighten them up, allowing the seats to be ground but it doesn't provide any help with oil comsumption. Even if the guides were replaced, if the valve stems are worn it will still smoke. A high-volume oil pump can flood the guides if the returns aren't clear but the 260 has inline valve so I would expect oil to be going down the intake as well as the exhaust. If oil goes down the intake guides, it hits the plugs. If it's only going down the exhaust guides, you get smoke with clean plugs. I one ran across a OT Ford van wth a 460 that ran fine with no smoke unless you turned left. When you turned left it would give a big puff of blue oil smoke but the plugs were clean. It turns out the oil returns in the head on one side only were almost completely plugged. When you turned left, the oil would slosh over the exhaust guides and cause some serious smoke. It didn't oil the plugs because the 460 has splayed valves so the oil didn't reach the intake guides which are higher up toward the intake manifold.
plugs were clean and pretty all around. heads were completely re built. and supposed to have be moded to accept unleaded fuel.
I haven't had my SBF apart in years, and this is just a 'maybe', but maybe you could pull the valve covers and stuff some rags between the valve springs and rockers, or on top of the rockers, to catch the oil coming out of the pushrods before it gets to the valves. Run it for a minute and if the smoke clears it's the guides. Apologize if this is a bad idea...
What carb are you using? Is it jetted right? Metering rods connected and working as designed. Floats where they need to be? Maybe you have to much carb for the motor. Posting a video might be helpful.
I had a Ford with factory replacement rings that didnt want to seat. I wound it up in first then to about 65 in second. It never smoked again. Try that once or twice on a fully warmed up engine before you tear into it.
There are 2 things I would do in this situation.... If it has an automatic tranny, pull the vacuum line. SInce you have no white smoke out of the valve covers, it may be a bad modulator, and your sucking tranny fluid into the carb.... If that doesn't fix it.... Call the engine builder.... You don't want to void the warranty if you have one..... The longer you have the engine, the less he is gonna want to fix it....
oh ya, you get an engine makin good vacuum, and an old diaphragm in the modulator, they pop..... Hate to see him have to pull the engine back out, or worse yet void his warranty/piss the builder off
it takes less then 2 seconds to pull the vacuum line.... I'd still do it.... He says the smoke is blueish.... Besides something bolt on, I wouldn't mess with someone elses build.... I would like to think he would know the smell of oil, fuel, or antifreeze.... I wish him luck
what kind of oil are you running in it? break in? synthectic? dinosaur synthetivc will make it smoke especially if the rings are not fully seated probably wont allow them to seat either. Get a good 10 w-30 weight oil and change it
carb is original, rebuilt (perhaps needs another rebuild. when I've played with tuning the carb I noticed that the banks don't react the same when i lean/richen each bank) oil is valvoline 10w30 trans fluid does not fluctuate. although it does shift hard for a 2 speed automatic. perhaps I need to adjust it. pcv has been replaced with oe. I believe this system can only be plumbed one way. unless their is some blockage/or failure from the strainer element before it gets to the pcv causing oil to get in that way. perhaps I need to try a different pcv system
This is the reason I asked what carb you are running. The rich run of this swill we call gas these days can mimick blueish oil smoke. I ran into this issue just two weeks ago. The engine, at idle, was running rich intermittently. Many felt it was blue oil smoke. I had run all the test like you. Mine is a Carter 2 brrl. I found a metering rod off the support and laying in the bore. I noticed that the side that did not react well to adjustment of the mixture screws was the one with the metering rod disconnected. Once placed in the proper position the smoking at idle stopped. Check your floats are at correct level. Ports and passages clean. Be careful with the mixture screws. Overtigthening can create a ridge and the screw will not work correctly.
If it shifts hard, that sounds like a bad modulator diaphram. Pull (and plug) the vacuum line at the modulator. I think it's just a push on hose connection.
Got power brakes? Does it suck brake fluid? Had a Chrysler that the booster was bad and sucking brake fluid into engine.
I did some more off line research. think it may be something with the carb running rich, the left adjustment screw operates as it should. the right screw I can turn all the way in till seated and all the way out and no change the the engine operation.
That is a issue sir. Possible clog. Spider making a home in the bore. Eitherway, it is a issue. Might not be the smoking issue but still a issue. Pull you carb and investigate the dead mixture screw issue. If she is able to dump what gas/air she wants she will smoke. Like mine, meter rod off the support. Blueish intermittent rich smoke at idle.
Sure, if you have a bad master cylinder AND a bad booster, at exactly the same time. I see it all of the time...oh wait...I've never seen that.
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