I have a new motor in my 69 SS. 355, 202 camel humps. 10:1, erson solid cam(510, 287) single moly rings, I have about 150 miles on the engine and I am getting a little bit of oil on the plugs. Two cylinders are burning nice and dry good tan color, the others have oil around the threads of the plugs when removed and that oily black chunky build up around the center and then they will foul. The machine shop says it takes time for the rings to seat. Is this bull and do I have a $3500 dollar boat anchor. Please Does any body have an opinion !!

Boat Anchor? Are you a ham radio operator?
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73

after 150 miles your rings definately should be seated by now. if the builder did all of the assembly, i would be having a word with him. it also could be something as simple as an intake leak, but if he put on the intake, let him figure that out. just my .02, good luck

I some cases I would say that 150 miles is not enough to seat the rings -depends on how you have been driving the car and what type of oil you are running. Most places do not recommend running synthetic oil during the break in. We used to recomend 500 miles before really getting into the throttle. Hills are good -make it pull the hill and then let the engine slow you down going down the hill. This puts a lot of pressure on the rings and helps them seat. Have you noticed it smoking at any time -such as after start up, while the car is under excelleration or coasting? This can be used to help diagnose where the oil is coming from. Rings, guides...ect. If you suspect the machine shop screwed up --by all means take it back and have them fix it!!

Hey Snatchin Gears !! Whats up with the Ham Radio comment, If you dont want to help someone with a problem dont post a reply !!

Boat anchors is a regular ham radio term for a radio that doesn't work and the only place I've heard it. Just wondering. If you were a ham we would be having fun at least. Sorry clay. Didn't mean to P you off or anything.
Molys i thought are at least semi break in free. Besides a break in period I'd wonder what cylinder oil conditions are like before and after running. Possibly you have a leaky valve seals. That's all I could think of. See if you have more oil before starting the engine than after running it. It's a shame oil doesn't break in spark plugs. I'm betting incomplete break in. 150 just doesn't sound like enough even for molys. Be sure to vary your rpms and not make the break in at a constant road trip speed. Have a good one once it seals up.

I agree that you should put some more miles on it. Also, is your carb to rich?
Roger

Snatchin Gears, Thank You for your responce, I am sorry that I took that wrong. I really depend on you guys for help and you have been great. The whole oil thing had me really bummed out. Thanks

If your carb is running too rich will that cause Oil consumption? I burn a bit of oil in mine and am trying to eliminate everything before I do a tear down.
Scott

Well Clay if you thinks that's bad don't worry... I could of sworn I saw a piston one time that uses only one moly ring and every piston only has one ring and that's it. I'm not sure if it was a race piston or I've had too much sun. But none the less if there is a piston with only one ring and you have it it might be a sloppy break in till complete. I tried posting that the first time around but figured I might be loosing it. Being up late and those darn ring sets with only one moly might of been what I was stuck on. But I could of sworn I saw the pistons were one groovers.

Sudo running overly rich will clean oil off the walls leaving the oil more prone to burn off.

so how many miles would be ok to to start worrying? i have about 500 on my 454 and it goes through oil (doesnt smoke), and has oil on the plugs.

how can the intake cause an oil leak?

thanks!

Moly-faced rings seat in about ten minutes (or less); the old chrome-faced rings take up to 1,000 miles in some cases - depends how the bores were honed. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

"how can the intake cause an oil leak?"

Bad seals on the intake valves letting oil be sucked in. I could swear normally it's evident after starting when the oils have more time to build up sitting then the smoke blows at start up. There have been times rockers have crunched things/seals. The wrong size pushrods or over lift and wrong ratio rockers for the combo I believe.
I don't know :eek:
I'd be as freaked as you figuring it's a good deal then possibly have a lasting problem. I'd give it more time though. Race engines are made loose so that they don't blow up as easy is my general understanding.

if you don't have chrome rings and they aren't seating yet, then imo you have a problem. my moly rings barely even puffed a bit of smoke on start up the first time. do a cranking compression test and look for inconsistency in results between cylinders. and if a leakdown tester is available, they can also tell you a lot. valve guides and seals that are worn or bad can cause fouling/smoke, especially noticeable on start up, but if they are real bad they could cause fouling. and really wouldn't show up w/ a cranking compression test. when i mentioned intake, i'm talking about the intake gasket. if running large or ported heads, or dealing w/ a decked block, the bottom of the intake port sealing surface can give you trouble with sealing, and the vacuum will suck oil into the ports, which will make the motor smoke and foul plugs, how bad depending on the size of the leak. (this won't show up in a compression test either) good luck with it!

The way I've tested for intake leaks causing oil consumtion, skipping is with an enrichment test. The Book says to use a propane enrichment tool, that injects propane into a PCV hole in the valve cover, with all other valve cover holes plugged. The Propane (or carb cleaner, but be careful not to dilute the oil here) will get below the intake through the pushrod and oil drainback holes, and cause the RPM to increase. A leak under the intake will cause the oil vapor to be sucked into the combustion chamber... This usually does not show up on the plugs though for some reason..

I'd double check the PCV system for starters.

John