the plugs were oil fouled real bad, and yes oil was getting into cylinders, all 8 of them! it wasn't just one or two. everytime we redid the engine we used new rings of course, and even tryed a different brand once. we had one set of rings sent to hasting ring co. and they said they looked to be "ok" for wear characteristics of ring wear. (mind you it used approx. 1 quart of oil per 100-130 miles!). the first two hone jobs were done the same. the third job was done a "pinch" rougher. the fourth one was done like the first two, but as stated, done with diamond stones. Again, multiple people checked the cylinders after boring, and after honing them. as several machinist's said, you could almost leave the rings off the pistons and it wouldn't burn as much oil as our motor did. valve to guide clearance ok. rod side clearance ok. there is one vaccum hose to the wipers. no pcv valve. etc. we went through everything imaginable and non-imaginable to explain it, we just can't. Again, we spoke to a mix of mechanics, machinists, you guys, etc. no one can give a difinitive answer to why. obviously we are glad it stopped. people say the block is not a "hard casting" as some where the rings may take longer to seat due to the hardness of the cylinders. we used iron rings to which most feel these seat fairly quick. I've used crome rings before with no problem of seating them. in my early days I honed cylinders wrong and the rings seated. (piston to cylinder clearance ok too). all for now Later