Well it seems I'm having a run of bad luck. Not only does it seem my transmission is bad, but it looks like there are problems with the new engine, as well.

Well first I'm paranoid about having messed up the cam on break in. It does seem to have some valve noise coming from the driver's side, and has a bit of a rough idle. But then, it is a much higher performance engine than I had before, and should have somewhat of an agressive idle. So it's probably my imagination running overtime.

What I am not imagining is the white smoke coming from the driver's exhaust after the car warmed up, accompanied by a bit of water dripping off the tailpipe. It does not seem to smell like coolant, though. The other side has no smoke and no water. I noticed the level in the radiator has gone down some, but I attributed it to some leaks that I had on startup - clamps not tightened enough, that sort of thing. I guess if it continues to go down without any leaks I guess that would be a clue?

So I'm figuring at best a blown head gasket at worst a cracked block. I'm going to check it out as soon as I calm down and dig the tools out of the wall, where they got stuck after I threw them.

What can I do to check and confirm before taking the head off? Here is what I know:

1. check plugs - if one looks washed, that might be the cylinder
2. compression test
3. cylinder leakdown test

Any ideas? I'm about to throw this whole project in the junkpile....

Cheers,
Andy

One thing you could do is re-torque your intake...useing a torque wrench,not just by feel.For the longest time I was chasing a coolant loss also with smoke from one side.Turned out #8 was sucking coolant from the adjacent cooling port.Just something to try before you go rippin' heads off.

check for kinked tranny lines , sounds wierd but i had a z-28 and i felt that same sick feeling in my gut that you have right now . i couldn't find anything wrong but my friend swore to me thats what it was, i made him come over, he rolled under the car and the smoke went away, it was kinked right at the tranny, good luck

I know the feeling, I'm now completely rebuilding my engine that had hardly 500 miles on it...

Hi Andy, how much white smoke is coming from the pipe?? Some watter dripping from the tail pipe ic completely normal, usually just condensation..

Also, how does your oil look, any singns of coolant in it??

Scott

A friend recently had a new crate motor (400) put into his '74 trans am. His, after less than a week developed a knock. He had it professionally installed by a local shop who ordered the engine, but then found the manufacturer would not honor the warranty because the shop did not follow the specifics of the installation procedures and break-in. Specifically, in this case, they were supposed to not only adjust the mixture in the normal manner but to connect it to a "smog test" system to adjust it further. They blamed the failure on an over-rich condition (which could cause smoking). Not that
this is what happened to yours. He ended up paying another shop to pull out the new motor, shipped it back to be rebuilt for $600 plus shipping, then paid them to re-install it and is dealing with the original shop in court.