Classic/Antique Car Repair: tail pipe smoke, valve seals, dr hardtop

Question
"I have a 1957 Bel Air 2 dr hardtop with a 60 corvette 283 engine (i think, I have
not done the numbers yet).  Someone noticed some smoke on the drivers side
rear exhaust.  I ran a compression test and it showed 125 to 135 all cylinders
with the higher readings on the drivers side.  This sounds low to me but not
sure about 283 engines.  Do you think it might be valve guide seals?"


Answer
Richard if the engine has any age on it the chances that the valve seals are leaking by are better than good. Valve seals will show them selves after you have let the engine idle for a few minutes and then accelerate. They will also show a nice puff of blue smoke after decelerating from speed and then climbing back on the throttle again. To analyze the compression numbers multiply the highest reading by .75. If the lowest cylinder is lower than that number then you have a compression problem.
Brad