That was a heck of a job tearing it down but I'm at the midway point at last. Took a full weekend. A lot of that time was spent wrestling with the AC/heat which I decide to delete while I was in there. Taking the heads to a local machine shop tonight to have them checked and have a valve job done. They're also going to tap the steam pipe holes in the back for me so I can replace that stupid thing with the AN fittings.

Pictures attached. Looks like the gasket blew at the #7 cylinder. Looks like it was starting to go a bit on one end of the passenger side as well but I didn't see much indication other than the slight deformation of the gasket.

When I drained the oil, it was basically chocolate milk. Which is real unfortunate but I'm a little optimistic because this thing has run a total of maybe an hour or so over the last year. Noticed smoke once last summer, it went away relatively quickly, and I drove maybe 50 miles after that point total. This season, I started it twice just to move it. No more than 5 minutes run time. White smoke both times, which is why I decided to swap the gaskets. My plan was to put it all back together and run it a bit and drive around checking for leaks, etc. Once I was satisfied, I was going to change the oil again. Then basically just hope I get to enjoy the car a little while before the engine goes. Does that plan make sense? And should I use any specific type of oil for the first start up?

Second: I've read up a bit on cleaning out the cylinders/pistons and removing carbon. I found a lot of consensus of "just leave it alone." Is there a similar consensus here? Is it not worth the trouble to clean up in there?

Any other thoughts on the state of what can be seen in the photos would be appreciated as well.

 

if it were me I would just get the heads checked out to confirm they didn't warp or crack. Maybe the shop would deck them some and just do a valve job

Put new gaskets on, change oil and see how everything is. You could also change the oil in 100 mi as there is likely some residual oil/water after initially changing it

 

I used mineral spirits and a brass brush to clean pistons
a little razor blade action if you are careful

the mineral spirits will slowly dissolve the carbon buildup and it is also providing oil protection from oxidation on the cylinder walls, unlike many other solvents designed to remove carbon such as brake cleaner which will evaporate and leave metal exposed for oxidation.

 

I'd go with a competition/racing valve job, and a resurface. Add some Howards 98215 springs, leave out the damper and use the Victor .026" head gasket. More power for very little money.

 

Send them to Lloyd and get his LE1 or 1.5 head porting and get a cam while you've already got it torn down this far.