Pardon my lack of knowledge but I've been away from Y blocks a long time and bought this car with a 272 (supposedly rebuilt) last year. The car is using a quart of oil every few hundred miles. Recently when pointing the nose of the car down on a steep driveway a puff of blue smoke belched from the right side exhaust. I checked the exhaust and get an oily smudge from the right side, but the left is clean. So I figure a head drain is plugged, pulled the valve cover and everything is clean as you would expect on a rebuilt engine. I did notice two things: There is a drain/overflow tube from only one rocker stand on each side, and it is directed at the pushrod hole. It seems as If I remember there should be one on each end rocker stand, and it should point to the drain hole. Oh, I pulled all the spark plugs on that side and three have light grey tips and one is brown (front plug). I would expect black oily tips with it using this much oil. Any advice, comments, or things to check will be greatly appreciated. 

There is only one overflow tube per shaft, so that is correct.  A compression test and leak down test should help you narrow down the cause.


Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks Charlie, should they dump into the push rod hole or into the drain at the bottom of the head?

Drain to the push rod hole is correct

have you checked the valve seals on the cylendr that shows oil on the plug. with a fresh engine it is possible the return tube is not aimed properly and 
splash floods that intake valve. the valve seals that come in ovhaul kits are marginal. i use 289/302 seals . also remove bleed tubes and plug the holes that way oil drains out holes at ether end of head along with decent  lube to all the rockers and valve train. like fe series ford engines.
you will get lots of feed back and ideas. good luck

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Thanks to all for the information. May i get a brief description of what I'm up against checking/replacing the stem seals? Do I need to pull the head? I'm assuming I need to concentrate on #1 cylinder. 

Cylinder head looks nice & clean. Yes, you need to consentrate on that cylinder. Wondering if something went wrong with the re assenbly like the oil ring was broken maybe? .. Hopefully not, but good luck finding the problem.. 


Paul

What type seal was the head assembled with?

http://www.felpro.com/technical/tecblogs/valve-stem-seals.html

Regardless, the valve(s) seal can be serviced on the cylinder head with special service tools.

You are using a lot of oil. Was the engine broken in properly or/and does the ventilation system work? Leakage?

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GOOD INFO HERE!

The quality of the seal is paramount. Use quality/proven parts.

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