Actually I have two questions, I will ask one here and place another post for the other - not sure what the etiquette is. We got Josh's '66 F85 330 started up again this afternoon. It hasn't been started since November when we took the gas tank out to get some holes fixed.

Anyway, now it smokes pretty good, whereas it did not smoke before. The smoke is white. We did not let it warm up completely yet, but ran it for a few minutes. I am trying to decide if it might be the unleaded gasoline, or just some miscellaneous fluids - gasoline, solvents, or whatever, from the cleaning process - like maybe it was not cleaned well?

Any ideas?

I am hoping it is not something major, but it was not smoking before, so I think not.

My next post will ask about the unleaded gas and the '66 engine.

 

Both my 66 Jetstar 88 & 67 Cutlass have the same 330's and both "smoke" white this time of year when I first start them. But it goes away after they warm up. Then again it pretty humid here in the winter. Not sure why this is, but you might let the car warm up & see if it still smokes.

Don

 

White smoke is usually from condensation, but can also be more serious like a head gasket or cracked head.
The first check I would do is see if the oil is excessivly overfilled. Probably not though. If it is a really ugly light brown, there may be coolant getting in the oil somehow.
The second would be to let it warm up, and see what happens after 15 minutes or so.
The third thing I would do is replace the Pcv valve and crankcase filter, and clean out the system. Sometimes if the pcv doesn't operate correctly, it will suck up oil.

For A quick easy cleaning of the Pcv system, I grab a bottle of B12 Chemtool at the local auto store, put a tiny bit of trans fluid in it, and pour it into an empty 20 oz pop bottle that I cut the top off of. I pull the pcv valve out of the valve cover leaving the hose attached. Then I have someone race the motor, and put the bottom of the pcv valve into the mixture for 2 seconds.the motor will bog down so be careful not to suffocate it. You should see all kinds of fun colors coming out of the tailpipe on that old car I repeat it until the car takes all of the fluid through it. Usually the smoke will clear after the first 3 dips.