When i start my Iroc-Z28 350 TPI the L98 a cloud of smoke comes out the tail pipes, i was told it was the valve guide seals, what can i do to fix this without having to pay $500

 

The only way to fix it without paying the $500 is to replace the seals yourself. Don't try any of those Smoke-B-Gone products because they will not work. This is a common problem amongst SBC engines. Most people just ignore it until they need to remove the heads for some reason.

 

yeah thats definitely the seals. Its actually not that bad to do if you have access to compressed air. You'll probably need to take off your headers or manifolds to really be able to get access to the plug holes.
You'll need a fitting to thread into the spark plug hole to put the compressed air into the cylinder to keep the valve from falling onto the piston (thats when you would have to take the heads off) Then you remove the valve spring and retainers, take off the old seal, replace it with a new one, put spring and retainer back on. I would suggest doing both intake and exhaust for each cylinder before you move to the next one.

Fel-pro makes a set that come with nylon caps to put over the actual seal and they work really well. I don't remember the p/n though, too long ago.

hope this helps, i would always like to see someone fix their own car rather than get screwed by someone

 

I thought I read somewhere that you can tie a string to the valve somehow to keep it from falling in?

 

valve guides.... they are easy to replace , the only hard part is getting teh head off, good luck

 

why???? there is absolutely no need to pull the head?

 

yeah i just realized im adumbass and was thinking of other things at the time

EDIT: u dont need to pull the heads lol

 

so it wont hurt the car if i dont do it right away?
thanks for ur help much appreciated

 

as long as it gets driven pretty good everytime it is started, it won't hurt a thing(unless you still have the cat.......)

 

You might be thinking of a piece of clothsline rope shoved into the sparkplug hole and bring the piston up,this works great. I've seen people use a rubber band around the stem,but this can be tricky.

 

hell, I've done it just by bringing the piston up to TDC, the valve will drop about 1/2-3/4 inch, then stop, and if you use any of the seals that go around the stem and guide, the new seal will hold the valve up when you put it back together

 

I had my valve seals replaced but mine stills puffs on some starts. Not quite as much as it used to, but I thought this would eliminate the puff all together. Any other suggestions?

 

cat????

 

catalytic convertor

 

how detremental can that be to your catalytic converter?