crap, i really hope they are 1 piece. I dont feel like dropping the crank unless a rebuild is in order. lol, tyler, the F-100 has been in my family forever. MY great grandfather bought it new back in 67. With the 352 low compression work horse engine. lol i doubt my parents will part with it.

 

Ya i know what you mean, good thing my parents let me drive their cars, im doin a 351 swap in my laneway right now and mine is my dailer driver too, havin no wheels sux.

 

If the actual mileage is 50K or so, I dout seriously if the rings are causing your smoking problem. Worn rings cause smoking 24-7 and not just at start-up. I would rebuild the head and see if that resolves the problem. And, the seals can be replaced without taking the engine out. You will, however, have to drop the tranny to gain access to it. If you want to delay the rear seal replacement, you can just put some cardboard or tin pie plate with a rock in it to catch the drip until you have time to replace the seal, or there are special oil additives on the market that are designed to swell the rubber of the rear seal and cause it to expand, thus sealing off the leak. You can also try using thicker weight engine oil, like 50 weight. The thicker oil can fill in the gap between the seal and the crankshaft, and could slow the leak down. Unfortunately, the only real cure is to replace the seal itself.

 

hmm. Well, if i take off my heads, and it truely has only 50,000 miles on it, ill just drop the tranny, instead of the engine. I want to replace the torque convertor along with new heads, cam, intake, and carb. Should make for an interesting ride. im hoping to push 300 hp.

 

Well, with 50000 miles, you rings are not likeley to be worn that much, uless you have a broken one or something. Do you have blowby all the time?

 

There is a very simple test to see you engine condition. It's called a "leak down test". Any good shop can do it in less than 1 hour. They can give you a very accurate reading. Before you toss a dime towards any parts at that thing, that is where I would start.

Good luck which ever way you go.

 

I'm in about the same shape. I brought home my "new" 68 Mustang and found it smoking. I pulled the plugs and found two (5 and 7) fouled badly. Per suggestion from Soaring, I changed the plugs (not really knowing any history on the car) to start with a fresh set and changed the oil. I ran it about a week (a little over 100 miles) and then checked my plugs again. Found the same two already fouled really bad (oil almost dripping from them).

I went to check out the new Summit Retail Store in town (McDonough, GA) and bought me a "How to Rebuild Your Small Block Ford" manual and a compression tester. Of course, they had some high priced ones, but I bought the cheapest one for only $18.00. Went home and went to reading. The suggestion from the manual is to bring the engine up to normal running temperature, and then, with coil wire pulled, hook up your compression tester to each cylinder, individually, turn the engine over 4 or 5 times and take a reading on each cylinder. From these, you should be able to pick out the "sore thumbs". They actually give a rule of thumb as to how much variance you should find between all the cylinders, but I don't remember the numbers right off (I'm at work). Anyway, once you find the "bad" cylinder(s), they suggest you take an oil can and pump a teaspoon of oil (40 weight) into the cylinder, wait a few minutes and retest your compression. If the compress improves, you got a ring problem. If it stays the same, you got a valve guide problem.

I've already started on a brake job that I'm trying to finish first (new wheel cylinders, brake pads and spring kit) , but hope to try the compression test later this week.