Rick,
Thank you for taking the time to respond here. I ran Joe Gibbs Racing 15/40 Hot Rod
oil in the car while I owned it. (Incidentally, that was the FIRST question Bob Mason asked me when I called him about this engine) I have a video of the car running at idle with absolutely no smoke coming from the side pipes. Yet the car used 1 qt of
oil every 150 miles. I'll be happy to send you the video. When the car went to ERA they found exactly what Bill found, a torn intake gasket....They actually saved it to show me. At that point they too thought they had it licked with just a gasket set because the car ran so well. Peter asked me if he could drive the car to gauge any
oil consumption issues still present....After driving the car over 400 miles, Peter called and told me the car STILL used 1 Qt of oil every 150 miles but ran PERFECT.
His exact words were....The car runs beautiful, I'd drive it for the rest of the season then pull the motor and look at the rings. On a side note....I found a bottle of Lucas Oil Additive in the car when I picked it up at ERA so apparently they did EXACTLY what you recommended here.
Once I had the car back, I too confirmed the oil usage ERA had noted. At that point it went to Bob Mason. It took him literally 15 minutes to find the pitting in the cylinders. I watched him scope the engine. I do not have a photo of the pitting but I did provide Bill with Bob Mason's contact info so he could talk directly to him. Bill asked me for that info but never bothered to call.