Topic: 1970 302, having a few problems

[Jeff73Mach1]

Another quick and inexpensive check is to hook a vacuum gauge to the intake manifold and watch the needle to see if it is smooth or if it is bouncing.

http://www.earlycuda.org/tech/vacuum2.htm

You might also check for intake manifold leaks by spraying carb cleaner around the base of the carb and the perimeter of the intake manifold gasket paying close attention to the front and rear edges as this is the place where leaks occur more often than not.

If the engine speeds up or smooths out while you are spraying, you have found a vacuum leak with one minor exception.

Some carbs have a controlled vacuum leak by the choke housing in order to keep the choke itself from burning up.  If you get a change right by the choke housing, that may be all it is.

A puff of smoke at start up can also be caused by worn valve guides allowing oil to leak down into the cylinders while the car is sitting, but this will typically only occur when you start a cold engine, not on restarts after it has only sat for a short while.

[TheBigRedSled]

ok some things have happened
went to the parts shop and picked up a few things, some oil additives and stop leaks to stop the smoking, though i probably do have bad rings and definitely valve guides
i replaced the valve cover gasket which was blown out badly, so my oil spurting problem has been fixed,

the heater has disconnected by the previous owner, we aren't sure if it works at all so the intake and heater exhaust form a long loop of hose, while i was replacing the valve cover gasket i moved this hose a bit to get at the cover, and noticed that it was cracked right at a bend in the hose, cracked to the point where i basically snapped the hose right off, so i cleaned up the hose end and reattached it. car was running better but still not well, i started losing water at that point, which we believe to come from the hose end that i reattached

took it into my mechanic's shop, had him put it back into timing, and run a pressure test, he found a freeze plus that was rusting out, and replaced a few hoses, also noticed that my pcv hose was completely worn out, any vacuum pressure would flatten it out completely rendering it nearly useless
the car is now holding a temp, even though it is high than it should be its not over heating anymore, i will be saving some money up to get a fan with a clutch, and maybe get a larger aluminum radiator

[Jeff73Mach1]

Have someone check the temperature with an infared heat gun.  Gauges are notoriously inaccurate.

Do not reconnect your heater core, I can virtually guarantee it will leak.

Are you running a 50/50 mix of antifreeze?  Pure antifreeze does not cool as well as a mix (water cools best, but does really nasty things in cold weather and doesn't protect the block or water pump from corrosion.

If you don't have a thermostat, put a 180 degree thermostat in.  the factory radiator in decent shape should cool the car just fine.

[Soaring]

Whenever you find a nickle in a pigs track, save it for a new aluminum radiator.  Those old 2 row copper rads  just don't cut the mustard.