Recently purchased a 77 ironhead that needed some work. It had been sitting for probable 5 years or so before I got it. The bike was parked after someone wasn’t able to get an aftermarket electronic ignition to work. So over time parts had been taken for other bikes. Needless to say I have put tons of mechanical parts back on the bike, also I put it back to points (old school). I’m a young guy but I love points. Don’t know why, just do. Also had to put a new coil on her.
Anyway, I put oil in the heads and let it sit for a day just to get things lubed up in there (didn’t want to score the jugs when I fired her up). I filled up the oil bag and after kickin for a bit to loosen her up I hit the starter and let the oil pressure come up a bit ( like 5psi) just to make sure my pump was good. I put the plugs in added fuel and started crankin her up (BTW I cleaned the carb to)… to my joy she fired after just a few seconds. Rough but ok. Got the carb dialed in and let her idle, oil pressure was great I guess about 25-40psi, only problem was she SMOKED like a freight train from hell. I mean you haven’t ever seen so much smoke. ALSO oil drips from the pipes when I kill her. I pulled the intake and there is oil residue on the intake valve like its running down the valve guides! WTF!
So I let her sit a day and then fired her up again. The front stopped burning so much oil but the rear is still blowing like no other… I heard some people talking somewhere else about valve seals on the guides (I here they are good and I here they can be bad) in the head so I figured that was the best place to start. So I pulled the rear head and inspected the guides and to my surprise they had oil seals on them, they were loose and not sealing good. It has ampco-45 guides so I don’t know why someone would put these things on there. I personally don’t think it needs them. But at any rate I put a new head gasket on and slapped her back together torqued everything down, adjusted the push rods and she fired right back up. Didn’t smoke for about 30 seconds then back to the old smoky.

I guess my question is: If I remove the oil seals on the valve guides will it quit smoking? I inspected the guides and they look phenomenal. The oil seals are loose where they fit on the guides so I don’t think they are working properly… The guides are super nice and there isn’t but probably 0.0005 to 0.001 slop with the valves installed, nice fit I think.

Any thoughts on the subject? Thanks guys.

A little more history: when I pulled the head the cylinder walls looked pristine, still had honing marks where the top end was rebuilt, so I know (think) those should be ok. Also it doesn’t smoke till the oil pressure comes up…. Everything on the inside of this engine looks amazing, just like a fresh build, only problem is the burning oil…

 

Oil rings stuck in the ring groove?
BTW, straight 50W in that engine.
Scott

 

Figured out what it was. The guy that had it b4 me rebuilt the engine and he plugged the vent hole so there was posiitive pressure in the crank causing blow by..... I added the vent (just opened the hole and added a hose) and she doesn't burn oil any more!

awesome.