I had been using Mobil 1, 10W-30, but at the station nearest the hotel in Charleston, they of course did not sell Mobil 1, so since I knew the engine was already sick, I used Castrol GTX, 20W-50. When I had a 454 powered motorhome, that stuff worked wonders concerning heat buildup in the "doghouse". So I had hoped that the thicker oil would slow done the hemmorage, but DAD-GUMMIT....NO IT DIDN'T!!!!!
I had passed along all of the ideas broached here to my mechanic via e-mail. He did tell me that yes, he could do a leak down test, but remember, he just worked on this engine two months ago. He saw how badly fouled No. 8 plug was. He doubts that it is the intake manifold because of the amount of oil and his past experience with the thin piston rings on a ZZ4 (stupid rings). He said that he would hate to charge me for the testing and then still have to tear the engine down. He has a very good reputation of NOT screwing people. I even had the idea of buying a basic ZZ4 block and having him just switch all the components to the new block. If I bought a new short block, I would still have the same weak link, the thin rings. He did give me a ball park quote that included boring the cylinders out .30 over and new pistons with new rings (get rid of that weak link). The estimate was for $3,500. We also discussed replacing the cam just for the lumpity-lump sound and that would basically be material cost and very little labor becasue the engine is already out and it will be torn down. The labor cost would be about the same if I bought a new short block and had him transfer the components. I had wanted a Griffan radiator installed next spring and the A/C fixed, but now that will have to wait until 2014 so it will be working for the next National Corvete Caravan to the museum.
So I am soliciting donations........well, I had to at least try!!!!
By march of 2013 I should be able to save up the money.
thank you all for your input, I learned a lot.
David "da MEAN Viking"
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Warning: The surgeon general has declared that it is NOT unhealthy to smoke your competition AND I just discovered that my corvette is a hybred. It burns gas and rubber!