About a month ago I overheated my 72 Dart with a 225 Super Six and it was running rough and was obviously suffering. I pulled the head on it and found that the original steel shim head gasket actually corroded coolant passageways that were supposed to be blocked. So, I went ahead and replaced my head gasket with a new Fel-Pro. I knew this would lower my compression, and my head was pretty tapped out and warped, I opted to get the head completely refinished to the best of my budget. I went to a machine shop who I was referred to and got:

-Head milled by .030" to compensate the thick new gasket and to bump compression a little.

-Whole thing hot tanked and cleaned.

-New exhaust valves and reconditioned intake valves, all lapped to the reconditioned seats.

-New springs

-New stem seals

-Guides were knurled.

I set the valves cold at .012" and .022", knowing I would recheck them when it fully warmed up. She fired up and it sounded great! I was super pleased, and when it was warming up I could not find any outside leaks. Checked the tailpipe when cold and no smoke. But when I revved her up a bit after a couple minutes, I saw a huge cloud of bluish smoke exit the tailpipe. Now she puffs a bit at idle and really burns bad under acceleration, definitely smells of oil. I pulled a couple spark plugs (brand new NGKs, yes I pulled the washers off) and they look like I dipped them in oil! I'm pretty discouraged by this, especially after hearing it run so well. I have to mention I lightly coated the cylinder bores with some oil on a rag prior because this was over about a month and I didn't want any excessive wear on startup. But that should have happened when I initially started her up? What's going on? I NEVER had any smoke outta the tailpipe prior, but my valve seal were bad. Any help is appreciated, I'm hoping I don't have to take it all apart. It's about a humid 100 degrees out here and I don't have a garage lol.

Unfortunately, when you freshened up the head you made things seal up a lot better up there…which has pushed your old piston rings right over the edge. They can no longer keep the oil in the sump where it belongs. Time to do the rest of the engine.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I was afraid of that. Especially since I'm leaving across the country for school in 3 days and was hoping to take the Dart with me. With this I don't think I've got the time right now to tear it all apart again. Any chance it might just be the PCV valve clogged, or would it not put off that much smoke? Thank you for the input though!

does sound like rings,, you can do a compression check and verify.

what weight oil are you using?

not a fix, but a bump from 10w30 to 15w40 or straight 30w can get you a little relief.

No, a clogged PCV valve probably isn't what you're facing here. Heavier-weight oil can buy you a little time.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

This is the exact scenario I experienced with my D100. A switch to a thicker oil will buy you some time, but is a very temporary fix. I switched to 20W50 and it helped keep a little more oil in the engine, but sooner rather than later you're going to have to dig in and replace the internals. As Dan said, the new head gasket is no longer the weakest link and that compression has found an easier path to exit.

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If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

You could try SS6 Dan's magic oil elixir to see if it cleans out the oil control rings..........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

if you do try the heavier grade of motor oil, keep in mind that the change from a 10W30 to a 15w40 or 30W will have a negative impact on the engine turning over ( and starting) at lower ambient temperatures.

Was it burning oil BEFORE the head gasket failure? If not then I'd put money on the knurled guides. I didn't even realise people still do that stuff and call it reconditioning....new seals or not wont help much with knurling if the guides were really worn.