I have about 1,500 miles on the engine refresh. Noticed that it puffs blue smoke when I shift gears. Checked the compression and it is about 130# on all four cylinders. Ran non-detergent oil for the first 500 miles then changed to 20W-50 Castrol. Changed it again yesterday and went with 10W-30. It was nasty black and looked like it had 8,000 miles on it instedaed of 1,000.

Got the cylinders and Hastings rings from Jake. Had Len Hoffman do the heads with new valves, guides, springs & retainers, welded up plug holes to 12mm. The CR is 8.6:1. Running DRLA 40's w/ 32mm vents, 55 idle jets.

The car runs great but seems like the rings should have sealed by now.

They generally seat in 500 miles, sometimes in colder weather it takes longer according the the oil you are running.

If the oil was nasty black it sounds like you are running rich and the rich mixture is not good for the rings trying to seat, as it washes the oil from the cylinders.

Tuning is mega important for a new engine and it's break in processes.

If anything it is running lean. I have been going back and forth between 55 & 60 idle jets. The 55 that I am running now pop a little through the carbs when it is cold. Once the temperature comes up it runs better. It runs at around 300 degrees.

Is there anything I can do at this point? Can I take it back apart and re-hone the cylinders? Seems like 130# of compression is low it had 145# with the old dished 94's.

How are you driving the car? easy, or like you stole it? I had an engine rebuilt and it took forever to seat the rings.

I have been winding the dog pee pee out of it since day one.

If it isn't going to get any better I may have to pull thae damn thing apart and do it over again. Now that I have the CR & rocker geometry set it should be a fairly easy job.

I assume I will need to replace the rings. What is the proper grit hone to use? This one is a 240 grit.

Anyone ever tried this quick seat stuff?

You used a ball hone with 240 grit and hastings rings....

And you are positive you aren't running rich.?

Correct?




I think Jake is gunna chime in here again if my gut is correct......

Twystd1

You could always do the comet trick.

Be very careful when you re-hone as you will open the cylinders up even more and have more problems getting the rings to seal.

What main jets are you running? What do your sparkplugs look like? What does the inside of your oil filter look like.

I had some ignition problems that caused high HC readings. Had a bad ground that was limiting the voltage to my coil. Didn't think my CO readings were ever high enough to cause a problem.

I haven't honed my cylinders. Just want to know what to use to break the glaze. Shouldn't take much honing to get them ready for another set of rings. Is 240 grit to coarse?

My plugs look fine, no oil, good color.

Yeah at least a 320 or finer. Modern rings don't a high RA to seat quickly. I know guys using a 400 stone to finish.