Sleepy GT coupe is alive (but smoking)

[foothilltom 33]

...and not in the good smokin' way, either.

 

I started her up today after 4 days or so of slowly going through the steps outlined by PrintDad in another thread (oil the valves, rocker arms, pistons, hand crank, etc.) and damn if she didn't actually fire up. I had my boy in the garage (doors open!) and he gave me the "cut" sign after a bunch of what appeared to be "gray-ish" smoke billowing out of the area of the headers and valve covers.

 

We played this game twice and it was smoking pretty damn good from my vantage point, so I decided to shut it down for the weekend and go back to the "bat cave" and mull over the next move.

 

My layman's instincts tell me this smoke is exhaust, but I have no idea if this is a sign of serious issues or the result of burning off all that "Mystery Oil" I jammed down the cylinders.

 

All told, it ran for about 30 seconds today.

 

Anybody have any suggestions for what this might be? Do header gaskets get bad with just age? I could replace those for sure, but I figured I'd get the collective wisdom here to set up my jobs for next weekend.

 

She lives though! The 351 sounded pretty tame with the stock exhaust setup. Definitely needs some mufflers here at some point. My boy (whose 302 sounds nastier) kind of gave me that "WTF" look when it ran so quiet. Just wait, boy....

 

Tom

[Justafordguy 10]

Was the smoke coming out of the exhaust? If so it could be the mystery oil for sure. If it's coming from under the hood, did you spill any oil on the exhaust manifolds?

[foothilltom 33]

Yeah, there was definitely a similar smoke that came out of the exhaust for the first few seconds after the first start. That cleared up and then we started seeing a pretty good amount of smoke from the headers/valve covers area. It was too diffuse to get a fix on the origin and I was already late for a dinner thing with the wife, so we packed it in.

 

Come to think of it, I was squirting that Mystery Oil in the cylinders with a $2 oil can that leaked pretty good. I definitely spilled more than a few drops, so I wonder if that could account for it. I'll give it another try tomorrow and see if the smoke eventually dissipates which would make a great case for burning off the headers. I just didn't want to run the engine in the face of a serious problem.

 

Thanks for pointing me that direction.

[S code 69 13]

As long as it's got oil pressure and isn't overheating run it for a while, if there is a problem you're going to have to find and fix it anyway.

 

If you put oil down it then it's going to take a little while to clean up, run it see what you've got.

[Pakrat 1,043]

It's alive.........IT'S AAAAAAALIVEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

 

[Truck 12]

And if it's not the header gasket, it could be a leaking header. (Depends on the age of the beast, to be sure.) If you have new headers, maybe check to make sure they're bolted as well as can be.

[Justafordguy 10]

If you did get oil on the headers/valve covers you can use a can of brake cleaner to clean it off real quick.

[Print Dad 58]

...and not in the good smokin' way, either.

 

I started her up today after 4 days or so of slowly going through the steps outlined by PrintDad in another thread (oil the valves, rocker arms, pistons, hand crank, etc.) and damn if she didn't actually fire up. I had my boy in the garage (doors open!) and he gave me the "cut" sign after a bunch of what appeared to be "gray-ish" smoke billowing out of the area of the headers and valve covers.

 

We played this game twice and it was smoking pretty damn good from my vantage point, so I decided to shut it down for the weekend and go back to the "bat cave" and mull over the next move.

 

My layman's instincts tell me this smoke is exhaust, but I have no idea if this is a sign of serious issues or the result of burning off all that "Mystery Oil" I jammed down the cylinders.

 

All told, it ran for about 30 seconds today.

 

Anybody have any suggestions for what this might be? Do header gaskets get bad with just age? I could replace those for sure, but I figured I'd get the collective wisdom here to set up my jobs for next weekend.

 

She lives though! The 351 sounded pretty tame with the stock exhaust setup. Definitely needs some mufflers here at some point. My boy (whose 302 sounds nastier) kind of gave me that "WTF" look when it ran so quiet. Just wait, boy....

 

Tom

 

Hello Tom,

Not sure you want to hear from me right now (LOL) but fantastic.

Great to hear she is running. All the previous steps were done to make sure you didn't break anything. I am pretty certain, I wrote she would smoke.

If I didn't I am sorry. I must say I am a bit surprised at the speed at which you have gone.

 

As far as the smoke...I think for sure, you have spilled oil on the (Headers) does it have headers or stock manifolds? Anyway, you could clean some of it up as suggested.

The I would move the car to the outdoors and start her up.

As mentioned..watch the temp gauge.

The motor will smoke out the exhaust from the mystery oil but will clear itself. Depending on how she is running you could possibly have to change plugs but in my opinion this is far better than a broken ring or hung valve.

 

I would try to clean the exhaust manifold, make sure you have good valve cover gaskets that are tight and then start her up. Don't be nervous of the

smoke. Keep an eye on where it is coming from. I would focus my attention on the motor and not the exhaust. That I am confident will clear but she needs to get good and warm.

 

Sorry if I left you hanging but I am shocked you got this far this fast.

She'll be OK just you wait and see.

 

Then after you run her 15 minutes or more....let us know how she is acting.

You could face a few carb issues or things like that.

 

I am excited and happy to hear she started. Print Dad

[Fordrevhead 29]

run it!:biggrin:

 

Just do it outside and always have a good extinguisher around. If you have spilled externally, a nice degreaser fog and a water hose will clean that up easily. Everything else must burn out.

[foothilltom 33]

Hey gents, thanks for the great responses. Here's an update:

 

The smoke was most definitely spilled mystery oil. PrintDad, you definitely said it would smoke in your reply but I plumb forgot. The *amount* of smoke was alarming only because we were in the garage (doors open but still confined space) and my son was in charge of telling me if there was fire while I cranked her up.

 

Anyway, after rolling her outside and starting her up again after the cleanup, the smoke was much, much less then eventually disappeared entirely. Whoo! I'm feeling my way around all of this stuff, but after new points, cap, rotor, plugs, timing and dwell set, she is actually idling @ 750 rpms and smooth as silk. I am pretty excited to have gotten this far.

 

The radiator has a few cracks in several places, so that has to be replaced, but it's good enough for my initial warmup tests. I have my original gas tank back in after having it boiled out (the shop had done the work the same day I dropped it off, so no new tank for me just yet, Pak).

 

So now I'm off to the brakes (per my other thread). I'll pick up the story there for anybody that's interested. Thanks again, guys.

 

Tom

[Print Dad 58]

Hello Tom,

Great news.... Always nice to hear of progress and sounds like she is going to be fine.

Again I hope you didn't get too scared by the smoke but doing the way you did is the right way and often saves lots and lots of time.

 

As for the Brakes....I got advice on that as well but I'll see if I can locate the other post.

Don't cringe (LOL).

You and your son must be working like animals....lots done in a short period of time.

 

Cheers......... Print Dad

[foothilltom 33]

Hey Print Dad, I'd really appreciate anything you have to say on the brakes. Just FYI, I bought a new MC today per the last discussion about the "stuck pedal". After removing the MC, the pedal now moves to the floor! Who woulda thunk.

 

I won't be doing anything until this weekend, so take your time finding whatever you have.

 

Thanks in advance,

Tom