Oil consumption on Windsor stroker

[Tony Radford]

I've got an AC Cobra replica and recently had my stock-stroke 351 replaced with a 427 Windsor stroker with:

- Reworked Windsor block
- Scat forged stroker crank
- Scat lightweight H beam rods
- Keith Black pistons with ET Molly rings (filed to fit)
- Elgin solid cam, split duration
- Stage III ported and polished TFS Trick Flow heads with billet aluminum roller rockers
- Port-matched Vic. Jr. intake
- Barry Grant 750 Might Demon carb
- Canton pan with windage tray
- Aluminum flywheel
- ARP fasteners through out
- Everything is of course ballanced and blueprinted

My question, since I've got almost 2K miles on the new engine and she's still drinking oil (qt/100 miles), is there any hope that the rings will eventually seat? She starts, runs and idles great, pulls smoothly and strong through 6,500 RPMs and doesn't smoke. She doesn't leak. The builder is prepared to pull the motor and go back through it, making any necessary mods, but it kills me to think about going through all that as driving season is coming fast. Any similar experiences that had happy endings?

[Tony Radford]

Streets, good point. My previous stock-stroke Windsor was blue printed. I guess MY point is that the motor was not simply "bolted together", but gone through pretty thoroughly, bearings plastigauged, rings filed to fit, rolling assembly ballanced etc. Anything to contribute on the problem?

[Bob Parmenter]

A quart to 100 miles after a 2k break in is probably not going to heal itself Tony. It's time to bite the bullet, there's too much $ in this engine to mickey mouse it. I'll play "master of the obvious" here and say there's something wrong in there.

[vara4]

Streets; Do you run a differant oil to break the engine in? Now I don't know if I've been doing this right? don't chew me out. But I was told to run a non detergent oil to break in the engine. And then after that to run a high detergent oil. Is this right?I was told that this allows the engine to work it's self in to a good grove or allowed enough wear to beak the engine in, you know rings,cam,ect. I was then told that if you ran a high detergent oil from the beggining that the engine might never break in right and would use oil because of the rings won't seat or wear in properly. What is your thoughts on this, I'm just asking so please don't get mad at me for being a little Dumb,about this. What would you do to break in your new motors?


Vegas

[vara4]

Streets; Sounds good to me, well I guess I've been doing it right,minus the engine stand to run it on. thanks


Vegas

[Tony Radford]

Guys, I pulled the plugs yesterday and they look clean (tan and dry), no signs of oil. Would you expect this from an engine that was burning a qt/100 miles? I will be scheduling a tear down with my engine builder early next week. But we're all a bit perplexed. It HAS to be burning it. There is a sooty residue at the exhause openings of my sidepipes, but the car doesn't smoke or hesitate. It runs smooth and idles fine. Does this make sense?

[chevy 37]

Tony Let me throw my 2 cents in. If during the engine rebuild, if the clyinders were bored you might have honing residue that has clogged the oil return holes. If they are clogged, oil cannot drain back into the crankcase. If this happens, it can accumulate in the cylinder head and over lubricate the valve stems causing oil consumption. When you say you can't see it smoke, do you mean just on start up?

[Tony Radford]

When I first start up or when I really nail it, I get a puff of smoke from the pipes, but when I'm driving, nothing. Since I'm running a solid cam, the valve covers have been off a couple of times. Nothing out of the ordinary.

[Tony Radford]

I had emailed the Keith Black tech line a couple of days ago. Their response was that since my plugs are clean, it is highly unlikely that there is any problem with my pistons or rings, the problem is likely in my PCV valve. That could make a lot of sense. Though I'm running the same TFS heads I had before, they are now outfitted with billet aluminum roller rockers and new valve covers. Maybe the PCV baffle was damaged. I have noticed that the oil consumption is particularly significant after I've pushed the engine hard RPM-wise. I assume the negative pressure at the output of the valve is increased with RPMs. In any event, it will be easy to check tonight when I get home. I have my fingers crossed as this would be the best possible scenario.

[chevy 37]

Streets Centavos? Guide Seals? Ya your probaly right but I just threw in my 2 cents worth since I did have that problem one time.

[chevy 37]

streets I have never done a bore on any block myself but have watched many being done. What you state is correct except I have never seen the block soaked in oil before. What I posted to tony is a bad boring job a friend of mine received. The cylinders were never cleaned out except for a quick rinse with soap and water. You can imagine what the cylinders looked like after just a 1000 miles on it.About a quart every 100 miles.

[chevy 37]

streets Many thanks for info. It makes sense. One of these days I'm going to due a bore on a block myself and use the tank of oil like you suggested. I welded the crack in my flathead and sleeved it. Didn't work so I'm going to have new sleeves put in and have it bored .060. Hopefully as I said this would be my first bore job. Need to ask you a question. On a previous post you mentioned(I think) that you had a replacement knee. I've got to have it done pretty soon and was wondering how the knee felt afterwards?

[Tony Radford]

Well, we thought we had it. The engine makes so much vacuum through the PCV valve, it looked like it had to be sucking oil into the intake. We plugged the line with a restrictor, but it's still consuming oil like crazy. Again, plugs are clean and pipes are sooty.

[Bob Parmenter]

Tony, that thing with the clean plugs is a puzzler ain't it?

What kind of oil are you using, synthetic or mineral? What viscosity?

I'm assuming you've done the logical inspection of the underside to see whether or not it's got a coating of oil on it.

[Tony Radford]

Bob, it ain't leaking. When I emailed Keith Black (those are the pistons I'm running) they said that clean plugs indicates the oil is coming in through the carb/intake. Today, I purchased a plug for the vacuum port on the carb and a breather cap to replace the PCV valve. That will at least eliminate one potential culprit. The pisser is that one of my buddies here has basically the same engine and he doesn't use any oil. I'm wondering if all the porting that was done on my intake and heads is creating too much vacuum. I'm running a Vic. Jr and a Mighty Demon BG carb. I'm running out of ideas. Pretty much everyone is stumped. Worst case is to pull the motor and start all over again. It's all polished and dressed out for show. I hate the thought of it having to be taken back apart.