i took my new firebird project car out today and made a couple of runs up and down a deserted street. i had a few problems though... i would stand on it and the car just didn't want to go, had a real lack of power. i pull back in the driveway and notice something dripping. i pop the hood and oil is everywhere inside the engine bay and its a wierd milky white kinda color. what is my problem here?
-Jay

forgot to mention its got 350 chevy power.

Sounds like a blown head gasket. What does the dipstick look like? Radiator empty/oily?

tim c- i didn't think of that! thats a really good idea. and yes the radiator was low in coolant and the dipstick has the same milky white substance on it.
Thanks for the replys
Jay

If it isnt that ill bet the block is toast.

When you drained the oil out of the block was it the same, if so, you'd best consider pulling the motor back out and checking your bearings. How long did you run the motor? If the radiator is empty, the head gasket leak was probably substantial, and a lot of water went into the crankcase probably through the lifter galley somewhere which means pull them out as well and check them for scoring. Same for the lifter bores and use a flashlight to check the camshaft lobes. What kind of head gasket did you use? Did you reference a bolt torqe pattern for tightening the head bolts?

I had the same problem and it was the intake manifold move went I was putting theintake and the gasket was not in place and all the water went in to the lifter valley .
I did not run the car I knew something was wrong because the radiator was taking to much water it never fill .just start taking the intake and see ,but it will be a good idea to verify evething .

swalker- i didn't put this engine together. the guy i bought the car from said the engine had been rebuilt a couple of thousand miles ago. so i'm not sure what kind of gasket he used or if he did the correct bolt down pattern. tommorow i am going to tear down the top end and replace the intake manifold gasket and the head gaskets and check everything to see if i messed stuff up too bad.
thanks for the help guys,
Jay

If you get it apart and the lift galley under the intake is full of the water/oil mix, you'd better serioulsy consider the removal of the motor and a rebuild from there. The cost of a lack of patience now can cost you even more when a bearing goes and then everything else. If not you may be able to get about ten quarts of cheap oil, put the oil pan plug back in !!, and pour it right into the lifter galley with the intake off, and use an oil pump primer with a drill to run the oil pump. leave the lifters in their bores but remove the pushrods. This will allow you to run clean oil through the motor to flush out as much as the bad oil as possible before running the motor again. Make sure you blow out the pushrods, these hold more oil than you might think. Do this at least twice or until you are seeing clean oil come out the drain. When I install head gaskets, I always put a little RTV sealant around the water ports on both the block and the head before installing the gasket and head onto the block, even on my 502 supercharged block which has solid copper head gaskets.