OK so I got the cylinder head off..., ...But need some help understanding what I'm seeing. Options

[Nozzle]

Quick background: With 100k miles on the car, previous owner had motor rebuilt back in 1985. Engine now has about 30K miles and started blowing oil into the intake plenum bigtime and running poorly. I checked the compression and got 73 PSI in cylinder three with 145-150 in the others. Did a valve adjustment (most were slightly tight but not bad) and compression came up to 80 PSI in number three with the others staying about the same.

Dropped the engine today, pulled the head on cylinders 3 and 4 and here's what I found:

Combustion chamber #3 cylinder



Here's chamber for #4 cylinder for comparison



Not sure if it's related but exhaust valve spring for cylinder #3 was discolored with what looks like burned oil while the rest looked nice and shiny



Cylinder 3 piston and bore



And cylinder 4 piston for comparision



I'm thinking leaking rings on cylinder 3 is the cause of the oil in the plenum and inside the cylinders as the valves in that cylinder seem to look OK unless I'm mission something. Very interesting in hearing any thoughts as this my first time going inside the engine like this.

Thanks,

John

[r_towle]

Pull the cylinder off and have a towel underneath to catch pieces of the ring.

See if you have a broken ring or broken ring land on that piston.

It's simple enough to use a proper ring compressor to put the cylinder back onto that piston, or pull the piston and do that on the bench, then insert the wrist pin into the piston while it hags out of the bottom of the cylinder...

Keep digging.