I finally finished cleaning the engine, changed all of the bad hoses, changed the oil, flushed the radiator, and put a new battery in. I cranked it up...sounded gr8. Then, some smoke started coming out from, it appeared, the headers. I've spoken with two people about this and they both said that it sounds like the gaskets. Here's my delima...I've never changed gasket before. Heck, this is the first time I've ever really worked on a car at all. Any advice on the "do's and don'ts" of changing out gaskets would be gr8ly appreciated. :cool:

Just do one side at a time. Remove all the header bolts except the two most outer ones. Rip out the old gasket, slide the new in then reinstall bolts. Alot of the gaskets you get now will allow you to slide them over those outside bolts.

When you say restored, does that mean you rebuilt your 305? Are we talking a lot of smoke or a small amount? What color smoke? Header gaskets will not cause smoke. Are these new headers and are you sure that the smoke is coming out of the header, or off the headers? Headers usually come with a pretty lousy paint job on them, sometimes when the engine is first started and the headers heat up, the paint burns off which causes smoke (it's called the curing process but it's really cheap paint used by the manufacturer)...also if you got any grease on the headers when you installed them this too will burn off. If your header gaskets are bad...you'll know it, you'll either hear a slight ticking noise if it's a small leak, or a loud noise that sounds like a hole in your exhaust. If you rebuilt this engine (restored) and if it is a lot of smoke and it's coming out of the header, you may have a very serious problem...it could be several things. A cracked piston ring, a blown head gasket (could the smoke really be steam, keep an eye on your coolant level and also check to see if your getting any water in your oil), along with some less serious things. Give us more info on what "restored" actually means! If the engine was rebuilt, was it bored out and was it professionally reassembled? I don't mean to be offensive, but you said yourself that this is the first time you've really worked on your car. Rebuilding an engine does take some experience...however you don't have to be a rocket scientist either.

When I say "restored" I mean that I've gone through and replaced most of the hoses, belts, air filters, changed oil, got a new battery, etc. Sorry for the confusion. What is it doing is, after running for a few minutes, I start to see some smoke coming from around the heads area. At first, I thought is was coming up from the headers, but, after further investigating, I found it to be coming from closer to the head gaskets. Also, I was flushing my radiator and letting my elky idle for a while with the heat turned on high to let the flush take it's corse. One of my heater hoses busted. I'm changing them out this weekend and all of the gaskets too. Back to the smoke stuff...it wasn't a lot of smoke, but it was enough to cause concern. I should hope that it's just the gaskets or, maybe, some residual grease, dirt, or what ever was left behind that caused the smoke. I guess I'll find out this weekend. Thanks for the info! :cool:

Could be as simple as when you cleaned up the engine, ya cleaned up the grease/oil/deposits that were pluggin' a leaking head gasket.

One mistake lots of people make is they tighten the valve covers too tight. I think they take something like 15 inch pounds. If you did this then you not only ruined the new gaskets but you've also damaged the valve covers. I have never seen anyone that has been completely successful in repairing the valve covers once they've been bent.

If your leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold then its probably the valve covers. Use some black sealer and seal the new gaskets to the valve cover, don't do this if you have aluminum valve covers it is not necessary, then I'd get some valve cover studs and wing bolts, but for metal factory original get some load spreaders at the local auto parts store and use those under the bolts. Tighten them to about 15 inch pounds or good and snug with a nut driver, if your using the original nuts. Once the gasket is starting to squeeze then stop. Cork gaskets will distort bad and once pinched they are no good.

Good Luck

I agree with Elky Pete. It is most likely your valve cover gaskets leaking oil. Once the exhaust manifolds are hot enough to generate smoke, you will see it wafting upwards. Usually not a great deal of smoke, but the smell of burning oil will be present at times. Often, the smell can be detected inside the vehicle, even when the windows are closed. If the leak is large, all the oil will not burn off in smoke, but the excess will run down the back of the engine and can be seen as wet oil from underneath the vehicle or on your driveway.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

spoonplugger, I believe what you said sounds about right. Everything you described is happening, so, as soon as I can get a chance to, I'll have to change out the valve cover gaskets. Thanks for everyone's help! :cool: