I have the heads off now. The engine was blowing smoke (a good amount) when revved. Is there a way to test the rings with the heads off? Any help is appreciated, I don't wanna slap it all back together to find out I have bad rings. Thanks Will keep you posted....

 

My guess is no ... there isn't an easy way. If it was blowing smoke on acceleration, you most likely need new rings and possibly new pistons.

 

I thought so. Yeah it smoked really bad, it sat for a couple years before I started it. I didn't wanna hear that though. A compresiion test will tell if the rings are good right? Thanks

 

A compression test will give you a good clue. An initial compression test will tell you that there is a problem. Now you have to figure out if it is the valves or the rings. You can then squirt some oil in the spark plug holes and check the pressure readings. If they go up, theoretically it's the rings.

I say theoretically because I've had good pressure readings and still had smoke. Worn pistons can also be a culprit. If you had the werewithall to pull the heads and cam, go ahead and pull the block.

 

Worn pistons, huh? I didn't think of that one. I did notice that when you look into the cylinder, you can see the rings. I mean it looks like the piston is 4.000 and the walls a re 4.030. It is that bad. Let me know what you think. Thanks

 

You might have some bad valve stem seals. Thats a fairly common problem in older chevy 350s. I think the symptom was smoking under acceleration and at idle. Your oil rings may have gone bad also and no necessarily your compression rings.

Are you saying you have 4" pistons in cylinders that are bored +.030"? Thats nearly a 1/32" difference, it would be really obvious if the pistons were wrong for the bores. They would be rattling around in there if it were that big of a difference. A running fit for moving parts is only a few thousandths different

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Andy
aim: Andyman350
1970 Camaro - 355ci, cam, heads, the normal stuff
pics of me and stuff

 

I know that seems like alot, but if you look down the cylinder fromthe top you can see the rings around the piston, isn't that tom uch? Thanks

 

From my own experience, I could not see the rings once the pistons were down in the bores. All I could see was the top of the pistons

 

ditto. that sounds strange. do the walls have the cross hatch at all? any scratches on the cyl. walls? if thereare scratches, then its time for a rebuild. if no scratches, then maybe you can get by w/new rings. but Id def. measure the cyl.s w/pistons out and make sure that the pistons dont have scratches (scoring) on the side of them. sounds like the oil rings let go on ya. good luck chris


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1986 Iroc Z
355, cleaned up trick flow twisted wedge G1 heads, 750 holley, 700r4, 10:1 compr., forged flat tops, solidcam .501I .510E, 4gen rear w/3:73 posi, girdle, and disc's, Edel. torker II, shift kit, 2500 stal, hedmann LT. headers, 4 gen seats, man. strg., lt1 starter, alum. w/p, msd 6al, coil, dist., mallory wires.
12.86 @109mph so far(still need fine tuning)

1995 z28,SS Hood, Iroc style spoiler, tints and black outs, 700r4,2400 act. stall speed,B&M hammer shifter, 17" budnick trilogy III wheels, 275/40 ZR17, 160 stat, man. cooling fan sw., homemaid CAI,1LE elbow, hypertech airfoil, t.b.bypass,!cat, flowmaster, !maf screen, relocated batt., 1LE front l.c.a.s', poly trans and torq.arm bushings, MSD 6AL, custom program, p&p maf, accel coil, and under drive pulley

mods that i have, just not on car yet:
msd wires, edelbrock mid. headers, edelbrock rpm catback