okay, I mentioned awhile ago that my brand new engine smoked a bit from the right bank and never did it again.  well, while having a power steering leak fixed, BTP Racing found oil leaks at the front crank seal and rear main seal.  I took it to John, the man who built the engine, and he said it should be good to drive for the weekend, the three days Breanna would be in town, and he would get to it next week. 

During the couple of days before she came in which I was getting the oil on the car changed, the rear end serviced, etc...the engine smoked from the right bank from time to time...most often when riding the throttle fairly hard (ie accelerating from 10 mph to 75 mph on a highway on-ramp), or climbing a hill.  The guys at BTP Racing and I both assumed that this was oil being slung around by the fan onto the hot valve covers/headers, etc...and then burning up.  When looking at the engine, one could see oil around the right side, ie sitting on the fuel pump, parts of the suspension were wet...anyway, I checked the oil every time I went to drive the car, never saw it get below even halfway, and always added oil when it started to get below 3/4.  Never saw my oil pressure gauge drop while driving.

Well, Breanna comes, and Friday (I had added an entire quart before we took it out that day), the car is smoking as usual...while I'm riding the throttle to accelerate while on our drive down the road by the river, or climbing hills.  Slow driving around town where I barely have to apply throttle, it's fine.  Well, the time comes for us to see a movie...so I take the highway to get from one end of town to the other.  While on the off-ramp, waiting for the light, I notice the engine knocking...so I immediately change lanes, turn into a gas station parking lot, turn the car off, and call a tow truck...had it towed to my storage garage where it still sits...I won't drive it to John's shop this week, it will be towed.  But at this point, can the engine be saved without a huge expense?  The leaks were his fault, and earlier this week, he had admitted that and said he would pay for the car to be fixed.  I'm just worried because I just put 17 grand into this car...5 into the engine...and if it's screwed, now, I am going to be extremely pissed.  advice, opinions?

"But at this point, can the engine be saved without a huge expense?"

Who knows? Wait to find out what the cause of the noise is, and go from there.

I'd absolutely make the guy stand behind the engine work. Just because he said it would be OK, doesn't let him off the hook. Let him determine the malfunction, and go from there.

When you say it smokes, is it out of the exh. pipe or smoke off the right side header, when you built the motor did you include a new fuel pump, is it engine oil or power steering oil you are seeing on the right side of the car, if you used the original dampner and if it had a groove and if the engine builder didn't istall a "speedie sleeve" over the groove it will leak even with a new seal, if the fuel pump has a bad diaphram it will leak oil out of the vent hole on the pump and also suck oil out of the crankcase and mix it with with incoming gas to the carb at times, did you notice where the knock was coming from, was it coming from the fuel pump area?

I had no clue where the knock was coming from...under the hood was all I know, and at that point I just wanted it off immediately.  yes, new fuel pump.  it's engine oil.  the smoke is off the header/valve cover, just generally on that side of the engine...like if you dumped oil on a hot engine.  the inside, especially the passenger side, will fill up with smoke when it does it...it's never smoked out of the exhaust pipe, but I did have some oil spray out of the passenger-side sidepipe, ONCE, but never again after that.

OK, forget the fuel pump,is your car have A.C.,front seal of the compressor leak, most leak even when new, and if the valve cover gasket is good I can't think of any other places where oil would come from, you did check and snug the valve cover bolts after 3-400 miles?

valve cover bolts are good...the car has AC, but the compressor has been disconnected since I got the car back...unplugged, and there's no belt on it.  the guys at BTP said it was both the rear main seal and front crank seal...and their theory was that oil was being blown back/thrown around by the fan.

Well, if everything else checks out the the crank and rear seal is all thats left, the front is a easy fix, when I put a front seal on before I drive it on I also put a thin smear of silicone on the outside of the seal so that oil doesn't leak between the seal and timing cover, the rear takes a little more effort, hopefully its the rear rubber pan seal not the main seal, Good Luck.

    BTW, hope your date that evening turned out better later on, been there done that, one night after putting in one of those "new type" CD igns. in the 69 I said to my new Paris Hilton look alike bride "lets take a ride through the valley and stop for dinner," we hit the road, we couldn't hear the radio, didn't matter the side pipes made up for that, headen down a nice winding two lane road no one in site, I leaned over and said " hey baby we are going to have a good time tonite", I just start to see the restaurant down the road when just then the car turns itself off, coast to the side of the road get out check the wires on the CD box everything is fine, cranks but won't start, "mother*%@#son#%^"
walked down to the restaurant and called our small town towing business, "Hey Al, I'am in the vette, can you get me home, Yea, no problem," Walk back to the car, Claire was cool, waited an hour, Al pulls up in his 62 Chevy wrecker, he's been in the garage business all his life, hooks me up we jump into the old wrecker and down the road we go, it turned out that I mounted the box on the inner fender down by the gilles and the heat exiting the engine compartment fried the box, things will get better. anips38607.7490277778

ouch.  at least we were in town...and right at a gas station so we could go inside and eat while waiting for the tow truck.  we went to the movie later that night.  it's just that after putting 5 grand into a brand new engine, you'd think a person wouldn't have to deal with this stuff.  anyway...John says he'll come listen to it later this week, and look into the seal leaks as well.