New to the forum and I have no experience at all with the "Y" block. My daughter 23 fell in love with a 55 4 door custom line and the father/daughter project commenced. The car appears to have been a "work in progress" when we bought it from an older gentleman who was no longer able to work on it because of health issues. Before we could get any details about what had been done to the car he had suffered a stroke and could not recall what had been done. So we took a chance on it resolving that the engine appeared to have fresh paint and fresh oil and the coolant was nice and clean in the radiator. Original "oil bath" breather was still in place etc...

After some research and trial and error we managed to get it to start and run after chasing down a 6 volt generator that was missing and new wires etc.. With new points, plugs installed and rebuilding the carb. New gas tank and fuel pump - it starts and runs just fine until the engine gets good and warm and we start to get bluish smoke after 5 to 6 minutes of running.

We did not check the actual engine compression for each cylinder because it did start up after we sprayed engine oil into each cylinder bore to lube everything in case it was dry and after the initial start up smoking it quit smoking. The oil pump is pumping oil into the valve galley and valve springs. Could it be that the valve guide seals are failing?( umbrella seals on valve stems - really can't see into the spring area)

We also did not change or fool with the thermostat for fear of a bolt breaking off etc.. We also did not change any other filters - did noticed it has a down draft tube of some sort with a "can" on the tube? PVC? Help! We were trying to avoid pulling the engine for a full rebuild. If we have to we will. We are going to buy a good compression gauge and start all over and try to find a manual to determine what is acceptable compression readings per each cylinder. Any suggestions will be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Bill in Georgia