I have a few questions concerning my friend's 57 Chevy six cylinder (210) (I am more of a 29 Chevy man myself)
Anyway, he had the motor rebuilt, He has about 500-800 miles on the rebuilt motor. It gives off occassional white smoke. I looked it over (without running it infortunately). Anyway the plugs were all clean. There was no oil in the antifreeze and no antifreeze in the oil (looking at the dip stick), I did notice the oil was a quart low. I spot checked some head bolts at random and they were ok. There was no sludge in the oil cap. All I can figure is that the rings are not seated and oil is being burnt. I not sure if the head gasket is bad or not.
Any thoughts? Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

It is my opinion that it is just not run in and the rings probably have not seated. I would put some more miles, highway if possible, and see if it does not improve. A compression check now and one after several more miles would be in order also. Watch the oil level.

with 500-800 miles on the fresh 235, i doubt any further "break-in" of the rings will occur. with a freshly rebuilt engine, its advisable to fire a fresh engine up, and run it at about 2000 RPM for about 20 minutes. this proceedure has always worked for me to seat new rings in a freshly bored or honed cylinder.mike

Chrome rings can take well over 1000 miles to seat.

Running at 2000 for 20 minutes is to run in the cam and lifters.

Thanks one and all. I am not sure if a run in was done or not. I'll tell my friend to run the car and punch it up at varied speeds. I am not sure if the smoke is a late development or not. Thanks one and all.

If chrome rings were used, the cylinders should have been honed for the use of chrome rings. I built a 216 cu.in. several years ago and used GM chrome rings, the rings never seated.

In addition to the problems of chrome rings seating, there is the possibility that the oil is leaking,or being sucked, into the combustion chamber around the valve stems through the valve guides. The original valves didn't have very effecient sealing around the valves, and the clearance tolerance specs. are more than in modern engines. If there is excess clearance between the stems and guides and if there is too much oil flow up to the rockers and shafts there can be excess oil consumption. The flatness of the straight six will allow more oil to collect around the stems of the six than around the stems of the V/8 or V/6 because of the natural slope of the V-heads. (JMHO)

ray: you are absolutly correct. don't know what i was thinking. Miller light influence?. regards,mike

I have used the Chevrolet Chrome-flex rings in all my cars and never had an oil consumption problem. Thats all we used in the dealership years ago and they gave good results.
If the rings are the problem drive the car at 60 MPH for a hundred miles or so to speed up the break-in.
Many of the 1953-1962 235 engines had an oil consumption problem when the were new. A quart in 1000 miles after break-in was normal.

Thanks one and all. I told my friend all of the above. He has only driven the car 200 miles. I said he needs to drive it punch it up etc for around 500-800 miles and then change the oil again. We'll see

Just relating a story a friend told me years ago. He is no longer with us. I certainly don't recommend anyone try this. He purchased a new 1955 or possibly 1956 Buick. He complained to the dealer that it was using a quart of oil every 300 miles. The service adviser said, "sign of a good engine". Later took it back again and he said I must have a very good engine because it's using even more oil now. The adviser was no longer working there. He complained to GM that he wanted another car(he was a very influential fellow in this town) and GM agreed to it but he was instructed to take it back to the dealer which he did. They drained all the coolant from it and told him to drive it until it wouldn't drive any more and they would tow it back. He did this and they allowed it to cool and then refilled it. He said it never used any amount of oil after that and he had the car for quite a few years. He said they had a problem with rings seating. This was in Canada by the way.

When we had problems with rings seating we would run some Bon Ami through the carburetor.

Yea, I remember the old bon-ami trick. Worth a try !

Interesting but this probably won't work in south TX.(Meaning the coolant story)

What is Bon Ami and where do you find it? Thanks.

A fellow I worked with bought a new 49 Ford that burned quite a bit of oil. When he complained they gave him a case of oil. That was the last Ford he purchased.

I never heard of the Bon Ami trick and it has been years since I have heard of it. Is it still around?

Bon Ami is an abrasive sink cleaner like Bab-o and Comet cleaner. I wouldn't use it in a engine unless it was the last resort. I have used it in the past, spareingly.

Bon Ami is very abrasive and contains the following:

Limestone ~ Calcium carbonate
Feldspar
Biodegradable cleaning agents ~ Alkyl polyglucoside
Soda ash ~ Sodium carbonate
Baking soda ~ Sodium bicarbonate

If you do try It get the 1886 formula not the new cleaning powder. You can find it online by Googling It.

We did use It on the farm to seat rings and It really worked, but It is a little like throwing sand In the engine. Maybe that Is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.
Richard

The BonAmi trick was suggested by the Chevrolet Service reps back in the mid '50's when they couldn't come up with a cure for the excessive oil consumption on both the 6 and 8 cylinder engines. There other "trick cure" was to run non-detergent oil for the first 5000 miles because they said the good detergent oils were so good that they prevented the rings from seating. Then in 1957 the factory fill of oil contained a large amount of ZINC for camshaft break-in and the dealers were told to not use non-detergent oil....For the 8 cylinder engines the cure was redesigned cylinder heads in mid 1959 that had better oil flow back so the valve springs would splash so much oil up on the guides.

If the valve seals are correctly installed on the above car and the rings, cylinder walls etc. prepared correctly the oil consumption should improve after a few thousand miles.

Note that the owners manuals back then told owners to check the oil level frequently during the break-in period becaue oil consumption during break-in was common.

We had the greatest oil consumption complaints from owners that did all city on low speed driving during break-in. There is no subistute for high speed driving for break-in

I have read this vehicle was driven 500 to 800 miles, then 200 miles. Either way, driving the car at highway speeds and VARYING the highway speeds will assist in the "break in". Ex: on the highway trip, drive at 55, then 65, then 60 and so on.

As stated, Chevrolet used chrome flex rings with success ..... only time I saw problems in the shop was with assemble mistakes with the rings ... aligning the ring gaps, as we saw in 1963 283 engines.

Thanks for the help one and all. By the way great car!!

Put a load on the engine by filling the car with heavy people or tow a heavily laden trailer. Take it out on the interstate and do about 60-65 for two hours. The rings will seat and there will not be anymore oil use problems and you'll have a grey tailpipe.
Charlie

My friend and I are giving it the run soon. Thanks one and all.

Any fat Chat members in N.C. that want to go for a ride?


Mike

Take my ex-wife....Please!