Well, I spoke to Marty and he asked I check a bunch of things I know are not the cause. PCV valve? Really? And I didn't use the corks on the manifold to block seal...just a fat bead of RTV, and I have .040 or so gap left. He also says the seal problem is an internet rumor. The real problem I have is my car isn't drivable yet, so I can't really get it good and hot. I can idle and gun it until the water temp is up to 200 deg, but that isn't really getting the valves or
oil up to temp. All I'm doing is polluting my
oil and dirtying my plugs. And under these conditions, the
oil burn is a non issue. I'll have to get the car drivable and tuned before I can have an issue to complain about. Since the painter has convinced me to get it running and the bugs worked out before paint, that'll happen sooner rather than later. I'm hoping to drive it to a get together in March.
As I see it, if it's not the rings, it's trivial. It idles at 800 rpm and 50 psi, and has no inappropriate noises, and screams like a banshee when goose, so I think it's good to go. The only way I get a little bit of smoke is if I get it hot (as I can), shut it down for a few minutes, then restart it. Then I get a tiny little blue/white puff and that is usually caused by bad valve seals. I also may only change the intake seals. I bet it's getting sucked by because of the vacuum at idle and a little oil getting past the exhaust would be a not so bad thing, if it doesn't make a noticeable amount of smoke.