i have a 87" camaro with a 305 T.P.I and a manual tranny. Everytime i started up grey smoke comes out of the tail pipes. i figured its probably burning oil but any one got any hints on where the problem could be????

Most likely its the valve seals.

grey smoke?
does it go away after a few mins of running?
could be condensation in the exhaust system.

Two sure signs of valve seal problems are A) puffs smoke when you start it and B) smokes when you deaccellerate with high manifold vacuum.