389 smokin'...help...

ok finally got around to pulling off the breather hose on the poncho and cleaning out the insane amount of build-up that was in the filter (it burned for an hour), slapped in back on the car and got around to test driving it today. No more oil coming out the dipstick tube so I was happy about that, but now the car is smoking out of the breather hose. It's not just a little bit of smoke, and it's not ALOT of smoke, just enough to cause concern. You don't notice it when the car is in motion, but it's really obvious when it's sitting still something ain't right. What should i try to aleviate this problem? I'm hoping it's something alot more inexpensive than a rebuild, cos if that's what it needs I'm screwed, I'm gonna barely get this thing painted as it is. What's a guy to do?

 

Sounds like blow-by. (Compression leaking past the rings and/or valves.)

Not uncommon for older engines with high mileage and a poor service history. The fact that you cleaned alot of crud out of it indicates that it was probably poorly maintained by a previous owner.

Rebuild time.

 

fuck......

i just knew things were going to good bein' almost on schedule and all...I'm just gonna have to finish all the body work and***** and just sell it off like it is i reckon...can't have another car just taking up space. This is fabulous.

 

I agree with FH, you have excessive blow-by. Means rebuild time. Or just put up with it and drive as-is. It will run fine, just down on power and kind of smelly.

Look at the positive side, you won't have to worry about any wasp nests in your engine compartment.

Or just keep your eyes and ears open for another 389, or for that matter any Pontiac V-8. Only thing to be careful of is the motor mounts changed in 70's sometime. Otherwise any Pontiac should bolt up without any troubles.

 

You can TRY some of those 'motor medic' or 'restore' formulas in your engine. I don't put too much stock in any "rebuild in a can" products myself, but I'm told that the stuff actually CAN help old rings seal a little better!

(I remain skeptical, but ya never know...might be something to those whiz-bang chemical cures!?)

Rebuilds don't HAVE to be expensive...I helped a buddy do a REAL low-buck driveway rebuild on a 283 Chevy with not much more than a box of basic hand tools, a re-ring kit, a drill with a hone attatchment and a weekend spent goin' at it back in high school! It ran pretty good, too! We just swapped on his old 307 heads to the quickly rebuilt short block and got him motorin' again!

Take a peek at your spark plugs. Excessive oil fouling? If so, then you REALLY need a rebuild...if not, you might get by for a while.

Price a re-ring kit and see if a local machine shop has a set of heads they can exchange for yours with a fresh valve job. Hone the cylinders with a rented or borrowed hone on your drill motor and install the new rings and gaskets. Pop for a timing set and an oil pump at least, too. Not the best way to do it...but a cheap way for the backyard guy on a tight budget to make it happen!

(You may need to rent a ridge reamer to cut the ridge around the bores down if it's very bad...at which point an overbore MIGHT be needed to clean up the cylinder enough and still maintain acceptable piston-to-wall clearances. This will require new pistons and raise your costs on machine work and parts a bit. It's YOUR car, and YOUR call...but I wouldn't let something like a little blow-by ruin MY fun...engines are fun and easy to fix!!!)

Hell, if you get the bodywork and paint done...doin' up a motor is the EASY part!!

 

the way people are around here with motors, they either aren't worth a***** and need the same thing as the motor your trying to replace, or they in good shape and they want more for it than it would take to fix the one you've got. The only reasonable motors i ever come across are sbf's. Guess I've have to sell the shoebox project cheap now and attempt to rebuild it myself, that'll be the only way I'll be able to afford it.

 

Might sound a little optimistic but my FE was blowin' by when I first got it on the road, and after I put some highway miles on it it quit.

My situation was that it had been sitting quite awhile and who knows what kind of driving it had before I got it. Sometimes the rings get glunked up and just need to get freed up.

On the other hand, if its been being driven (more than just idleing around town), and poorly maintained a quick overhaul is probably in order.

Given the choices I would probably do the mill and let the paint wait. This being from a beater driver of course.

hey ya know the difference between an optimist and a pesimist? A pesimist believes it can't get any worse and an optimist knows it can.

If it don't make ya dirty it aint yours

 

somebody at school mentioned that rebuild in a can*****, but I don't want a temporary solution, If I'm gonna get things fixed it'll get the whole shebang. I priced one rebuild kit online and it was $650...Tried to find my PAW catalog but it's nowhere to be found, do they run those two page ads in Rod & Custom or Custom Rodder? Those are the only two mags i have and i didn't see the ad in any of em'.

 

THe car can't get driven around too much until it gets some paint on it, I'm not going to take a chance on havin' to go back and fix spots from where the elements got through the primer to the metal, if I'd known about this before I started the body and paint, I would be driving around a beater right now, heh.

 

What year is the 389 in your car now?

Pontiac V8 engine mounting bolt holes changed a little over the years, but there are adapters to make newer engines fit where older ones went and vice-versa.

That said, I'm SURE you can score a complete, running 70s beater with a 350 or 400 Poncho in it for under $500. If you can't find one THERE, I know I can find one HERE for ya!

I've said it before, but it bears repeating...those 70s land yachts have good V8s hidden under all that smog*****...and they're dirt cheap to boot! Toss out the emissions***** and you got a good replacement motor for less than the cost of that rebuild kit you mentioned! I'd even be willing to drive a genuine Detroit Beater down to ya if that's what it takes to get it done! (YOU cover the gas money and the cost of the rustbucket donor car!)

Don't give up now...someone here on the HAMB probably has a good Poncho motor they don't need!

 

You should be able to beat that 650 rebuild price at Summit Racing by about 150.

I don't think I still have a PAW catalog, but I'll call a friend and get you a number.

 

Try running thicker oil.

 

how about running the breather hose to the intake charge.

not a fix,

but it'll smoke less

under the hood

Paul

 

Marvel Mstery Oil. Red and black can, been around forever
and it works. Not a cure but stops some symtoms.

 

it's a 1960 Catalina. I'll see about the 70's cars, but all those that are usually in the papers are 6 cylinders or are completely screwed up, who has the adapters you spoke of?

 

Switchblade, try www.northernautoparts.com for your rebuild kit. Excelent service and prices. They use name brand quality parts in their kits. The owner guy was on the HAMB about 1-2 years ago for a while, can't recall his name.

 

i checked out that site but didn't see a kit for anything this old, so far the only one has been the $650 one from www.greenbaypartsworld.com

 

try this, take out a couple of qts of oil & replace it with dexron ATF, run it for acoupel of hundred mile, then drain it, change te filter & put in Pennzoil 20-50.Next put a PCV setup in it, its cheap enough & will probaly solve your problem.
I rebuilt a 305 sb & without a pcv it blows smoke out alittle.
whts it going to cost $30!! worth a try.
JimV

 

I don't know a thing about 389 Ponchos but I'm wondering...
Does it have a PCV? Is it plugged up?
That can cause the breather to smoke!
If all else fails...
I'd stick a Mopar breather (Hose******* type) on it and run the hose to the bottom of the firewall to allow the fumes to get taken away with the air stream! Poor mans road draft tube!!!
Why stop driving it if it runs good?

Bill

Haha! JimV beat me to it!!!

 

I don't really wanna drive it a few hundred miles in a nice 60's style custom and have smoke rising up from under my hood at every stop light. No pcv setup on these, just the breathers and the breather hose hangin' out back. That's where the smokes comin' from. I'm lookin at the auto trader page and stuff trying to see what would be best on my wallet between rebuilding or engine swapping Foudn one i need to call, a 77 poncho more door with a running 400 for $125. It's a few hours away but if they say it runs good and the******* is ok then I'll get my fiance's dad to go look it over, he ain't really a car guy but i think he knows enough to get by.

 

What would be the motors to look for? I wouldn't wanna get something that'll be a big hassle.

 

Just my 2 cents but finding a donor car, swaping engines, working out the bugs that invariably crop up and aren't free, could end you up with a motor that is only marginaly better than what you have now.

A rebuild kit, some labor (if you are not sure of your skills as a motor guy find a buddy who is) and a few hundred spent at a machine shop should net you a rebuilt engine that you KNOW is good for thousands of miles.

I think sometimes the cheap way is false economy. Seems every time I try to shortcut something it ends up costing me more in the long run.

Like I said, just my two cents worth.

 

I'd have that thing checked over before I just yanked it out! You say it started suddenly? Thats odd.

I wonder is JimV onto something when he says to retrofit a PCV setup?

I almost replaced a "Knocky" engine once...luckly I had a spare so I didn't go buy another engine or parts car...but I found the problem when I was stripping it down in preparation for replacement.
The fan belt had a 6" strip missing from it that caused a knocking sound as the engine ran! Sounds stupid..but weird***** happens!
New belt and she purred.
DON'T toss an engine till your SURE you have a terminal problem. IMHO

Bill

 

I bought a rebuild kit for $375 for my Pontiac 400. You need to use dogpile.com.

 

Swichblade, call Northern, they do have more kits than those listed, in fact I think they can make a kit for just about anything.

A good diagnostic check for your engine is to do a compression test. That will help determine if you have bad worn rings or soemthing else. Although my money is on a worn out engine, sorry to say.

 

Listen to Hackerbill, he's onto a cheap temporary fix. A 1960 Poncho never had a pcv system at all. Score a later pontiac V/8 valley cover that has the provision for a pcv valve and grommett. All poncho valley covers interchange. Bingo! Instant fix. Unless you have extremely heavy blow=by, the factory pcv will reburn the blowby and you'll be happy.
Run a few cans of STP in the oil until you can replace/rebuild your engine...

 

'38/454 is right, I've known the guy that owns Northern for 20 years. Just pick up the phone and call there 800 number, ask for Steve and tell him Glenn Hayes sent ya...they'll custom build ya a kit for that 389.
...or email me for help!

 

Have a compression test done on all 8 cylynders and see where you are on condition- then you'll know what path to take.

 

[ QUOTE ]
how about running the breather hose to the intake charge.

not a fix,

but it'll smoke less

under the hood

[/ QUOTE ]

HEY!

I'm serious here,

I have done this before.

Improvise a tube to replace the down-tube,

that goes from the valve cover

(or wherever it originates on the '60 Poncho)

to the air cleaner.

It's a good stop gap fix till you do your rebuild.

you can do it this weekend,

and be cruisin'

while you wait for your parts!

Paul

 

JimV said it before me Rocky!
PCV's can be a pain but they can be a help sometimes too!
If the engine isn't TOO worn this is a case were it might be a help.

Using a factory Valve cover is a really good idea cause it would most likely have a built in baffle to prevent oil from being*****ed into the manifold and making it look like the car is burning oil.
That happens with many aftermarket valvecover installations!
I bet I've "fixed" 5 or 6 cars with that oil burning problem!

Bill