1985 Chevrolet 350 Smoking

[FarleyJ]

This is the first forum and post I have done so I apologize for any mistakes I am doing here. I recently purchased a 1985 Chevy SWB that had a 5.0 factory engine. The older gentleman I bought it from had swapped a 350 engine in it with 3970010 casting numbers. The truck starts and runs like a new truck and is very stout. My issue is I know nothing about the engine and when i tried to contact the previous owner I found out he passed away so I can't ask him anything about what has been done to the engine. It puffs smoke when it fires up for a split second and only when it is under hard acceleration. It is blowing smoke out of the breather on the valve cover and oil is everywhere. I took off the valve covers and there was no baffles to keep oil out of the breather filter and PCV valve so I purchased new covers with baffles and it has helped some but it is still spraying some oil out of the filter and still smokes. I know there is a big possibility of blow by either rings or I have valve seal issues. My question is is there anything I should check before I plan on pulling the engine to rebuild/swap?

[Rapid Roy]

Welcome.

[Stewart G Griffin]

Does it blow smoke constantly out of the breather?   Or only when starting and acceleration?

[Irish_Alley]

get a compression tester and test her out. theres no real reason for them to just blow oil out unless the crank case pressure is too high which can be caused by blow by

[FarleyJ]

Only when I was giving it gas but i pulled the pvc valve on the other valve cover it was constant smoke. I checked the oil and coolant both look great.

[FarleyJ]

So I put a street dominator intake and a Holley 650cfm carb and it starts and runs great. The smoke has stopped when it starts and i can give it gas and no smoke......however when i drop it in to gear and start driving it smokes bad. Ideas or suggestions? I am giving this 350 one last chance and then its getting a LS3. I am a salesman at American Powertrain and I can get a 525hp GM Performance LS3 for less than 6k ready to drop in.

[VileZambonie]

The engine needs to be rebuilt or replaced. There's no quick fix. LS is a good option unless you want it to look period correct.

[roundhouse]

Do a compression check on all eight cylinders

That will tell you if the rings are bad or not

A used LS engine is about $500

All the other mods , wiring harness computer motor mounts belts  hoses fuel lines and pump etc

That’s the expensive part