[72.RS/SS]

I was coming home from a show Saturday. I noticed my oil gauge was dropping a lot when I braked. Then I braked hard and went into a hard turn exiting the highway and it bottomed out. I don't know why, but I figured it would so I was watching it. I was just about home so I babied it the rest of the way. The pressure came back up to about 35 lbs, but would drop to almost nothing when I braked and it idled. I checked the oil later that night and it wasn't touching the dipstick. I hadn't really checked it in a while, cause it only has 1300 miles on it since I changed it. I changed the oil tonight and got less then 2 quarts out of it. I inspected the underside of the car and there really isn't any oil under it. There was a little bit, but nothing of much significance and none passed the tranny cross member.

The short block was reused when I built the engine. So the rings are seated. If the guy I got it from wasn't lieing, it should have under 20K on the bottom end. There is nothing in the PVC hose. The plugs look good and aren't black at all. When I had my heads worked they got new valves. I don't know for sure, but I am pretty sure it got new valve seals. It has a slight puff of smoke when I start it after it has sat for at least 5 or 6 hours. There is no oil on my garage floor and I have never noticed any where it was parked.

I have never noticed any smoke while driving. But in one video I have on the dyno, it has some black smoke right before it is tached out (I just thought it was rich up top) and in the second one it does smoke some when it decelerates.
So where the hell is it going. If it is getting sucked into the intake runner how could I tell? I don't have a compression tester, should I get one and test all the cylinders? Oh yeah, I have a 7 quart pan too. That means I've lost 5 quarts in 1300 miles. WTF!

[mark191]

Man thats alot of oil for only 1300 miles. With no evident exterior oil leaks i would have to say it's burning. Yeah a compression tester should be in your toolbox.

[67econobox]

What kind of oil are you running? My engine has low tension compression rings, and if I run mobile1 synthetic, my engine will eat that much oil no problem. No sign of consumption, just add oil all of the time. I switched back to non-synthetic Castrol 20-w50, and not a drop in 5000 mile oil changes. The oil comes out clean and still yellowish! It might be worth talking to the engine builder about what kind of oil he recommends.

[72.RS/SS]

When I first got the car running again I put Royal Purple in it. Then when I was tuning the carb and dist. curve I flooded it out and got gas in the oil. I changed it with conv. Castrol 10w30. So that is what disappeared. This time I mixed Valvoline conv. 10w30 (4qrts) and VR1 20w50(3qrts). I wanted some zinc from the VR1, but didn't want to run the thickness of the 20w50. It comes out to be 14.25w38.5, hahaha.

I picked up some Permatex #2 today. I'm gonna pull all the rocker studs and reseal them.

[Everett#2390]

You could be burning oil as synthetic oil leaves no ash as dino oil does (smoke).
As Joe (Econobox) suggest, I'd go back to the original brand of oil used to seat the rings and try it again, Royal Purple?

[Steptoe]

It has a slight puff of smoke when I start it after it has sat for at least 5 or 6 hours.

Valve giudes
mark which way the plugs are in the engine, plull them, if black on the top guides, black on the lowe side rings.

I hadn't really checked it in a while, cause it only has 1300 miles on it since I changed it.

Hell we ALWAYS recheck oil levels after road test.

[Vegas69]

Engines leak or burn oil. Your engine is clearly burning it.