Hey just picked up an 84 Camaro, 350/5speed. It's got an Edelbrock carburetor. This car had a big piece of the carb/intake gasket missing, so it had a real erratic, high idle, but it seemed to have a lot of power, I had to drive it a short distance home, the throttle was extremely sensitive to say the least...Well this afternoon I replaced the gasket and sure enough a huge section from the front was gone. Anyways, I changed the gasket, and also added a quart of oil because it was pretty low. After that, it fired right up, no more erratic idle, just idling very high. Anyways the car was pretty much bailing exhaust smoke, very white, (its about 25 degrees out if that matters) then when it was warming up it started to run kinda crappy, and the idle went down..Well when I got it into the garage I took the breather off and noticed the carb was covered with oil, mostly in the secondaries and on the butterfly valves, and it looked like the fresh oil I just added. I also noticed the choke (mechanical) was all screwy and I don't think it's working, a pic of that would help if anyone has one...Might be missing a piece...So Idk if the carb is my problem or something else?

Just a though, the bad carb gasket was a source of a big vacuum leak so your pcv line from the valve cover to the base of the carb probably wasn't pulling any oil from the valve cover. Now that you fixed the vacuum leak the pcv system is pulling crankcase fumes and oil from the valve cover. If your engine is burning oil the smoke should be bluish, white smoke is water/coolant and dark smoke is fuel (rich) or carbon buildup.

Disconnect the hose with the PCV valve in it at the base of the carb and plug the carb off so you don't have a vacuum leak and see if the smoke clears. Also check your radiator to see if the fluid is bubbling when the engine is warmed up and running. Bubbles would suggest the smoke is from radiator fluid leaking into the combustion chamber.

Do you mean run it with the cap off and see if it bubbles? I was thinking coolant for some reason. It had that smell when it was running, and I tried to pinch the hose that goes into the intake and it was really soft, like there wasn't any pressure. I checked the coolant level, it was filled to the top. Also it's hard to tell, it may have had blue in it, but my memory recalls lots of white smoke.
I will try blocking off the pcv tomorrow.

If the fluid is leaking into the motor would that be an intake gasket?

Check the freeze point of the coolant, It might have frozen and cracked a cylinder if you have white smoke that smells like coolant. You can check the plugs too, if there is a very clean one, it's probably from water getting in that cylinder.

fuel pump, maybe?

Check the freeze point of the coolant, It might have frozen and cracked a cylinder if you have white smoke that smells like coolant. You can check the plugs too, if there is a very clean one, it's probably from water getting in that cylinder.
Uhhh...that would suck..It has been wicked cold the past few days too. My assumption was the coolant is fine, It wasn't frozen or even slushy...It was very green so I know there is antifreeze and not just water..Wouldn't it have to pretty much freeze solid to crack a cylinder? (Just trying to think this thru..I really hope its not ruined over something like that) Then if it did freeze solid isn't that what the freeze plugs are for? (to give way before the block cracks that is) Of course I didn't check it till after it had been warmed up. Well I definitely Know for a fact there is a ton of oil in the carburetor and my gut reaction would be to assess that and see if the smoke clears...Just planning my next move in advance, cuz I plan on hitting it hard tomorrow..If it wasn't the oil, and wasn't a cracked cylinder (seemed to be running on all 8 as far as I can tell) then would it be the intake gasket? (Maybe since there was a big piece missing from the carb gasket there might be a similar issue w. the intake gasket)

Oh and Luwi I need to clarify, It was the motor that had that antifreeze smell, I never smelled the exhaust