Time to focus on the engine, lots of questions.

Ok, so I finished the bodydrop and the airride. Its time for me to move to the motor. Im having some problems that I need to figure out what to do about first. First, the motor smokes-really bad during the first 15 mins of driving after being cold. I drove it to Scr8pfest over this past weekend and I noticed it smoking while I was driving it also, but just barely enough to see. It used a quart of oil at least going down there and back(2.5hr one way). Sometimes when you start the truck it wont tick, and other times it will. No matter what though, it will tick when it warms up. I figure that I just need to go through the head, but after reading here in the forums, I wonder if it might be the rings. One thing that may or may not help is that I have the vent tube that runs between the valve cover and the breather unhooked and the other day while driving it without the hood, I noticed smoke coming out of that hole. Could this be blow by? If so, doesnt that pretty much mean that the rings are fried? My first desire is to keep the 2200 motor and use a weber/holly carb setup, but I dont want to if the motor is that far gone, Id rather spend my money on the rebuild first. What do you guys think that Im looking at?

Lots of possibilities. First, the PCV valve and vent hose are there for a purpose. It is to vent smoke and gases back thru carb to control pollution. I would put the correct PCV valve in the truck and reconnect the hose.If ur truck smokes for 15 min. after start-up it probably is rings not head.Run a compression check and see if all 4 cylinders are in spec as far is compression is concerned . Sounds like one or more arent.U did not say what kind of engine ur running.B2000's have mechanical lifters that can be adjusted to get the tick out. B2200's and B2600i's are hydraulic and have no adjustment.If ur's is one of the latter,try the Seafoam trick.Change oil and put a half can of Seafoam in crankcase. Run truck about 500 mile and change oil again and put 1/4 can of Seafoam in crankcase and run it until ur nrxt scheduled oil change. Might clear the rattle or tick up. BJ

sounds like the rings are gone, i ran into the same problem, your better off to have it rebuilt and when u have it apart its good topaint and detail the motor and engine bay, i thought i was wasting my money to have mine rebuilt but, if i ever have to do it again i wont do it any other way, i love it the way it is

yea its an 87 b2200. According to what I have found, 86-87 were the only years that had the manual lifters in the b2200 head. I was thinking it was the rings, which like was said, I need to detail the motor anyhow. I may just go ahead and get the edc and the weber mounted p and running like it is, then rebuild it with my income taxes. THe thing that bothers me about this is that I got the truck back in the winter of 2004 and it wasnt drove hardly any at all since it was torn apart until this past spring. The motor didnt smoke or anything until I started driving it after the winter. Maybe its because the pcv valve is messed up or that tube is off. I was at first suspecting maybe the valve seals after it was smoking coming back from Scr8pfest, and that was from it sitting so soon after spposedly being rebuilt by the guy that i bougth the truck from. I think now that maybe a rebuild will be necessary. Time to put down the sawzall and start gettting greasy!

If it sat that long it probably is the seals. If they sit up, they dry out and become brittle. Might try seals. BJ

Welcome to my world!! It does sound like a ring issue, Mine will smoke every now and then, big time in the morning and then only sometimes when I get off work, but you know how it is if there is alot of people around you will smoke the block out but if it is just you it wont smoke at all..

I may try the head first, just because it didnt smoke a bit....not even one lil bit until it sat. I drove it around some, enough for it to smoke before I parked it.