Smoking FORD 302 CID

[jabroni]

Hello All, I just purchased an older Revel Craft Cruiser with a reverse rotation Ford v8 302cid engine. I have been restoring the boat, everything needed replacement except the hull and engine, or so I thought. I finally got it in the water this weekend and slowly got the motor up to cruise at 2500 RPM. After 20 minutes on the water I noticed smoke coming from the starboard side of the engine. I thought it was just residue oil or grease burning off the block or manifolds. After an hour it kept smoking and I finally returned to the marina. Please advise.

[Jango]

Could be something as simple as Too Much Oil in the Pan? Probably best to do a compression check. All cylinders should be within 10% of each other.
Most likely is a stuck or broken piston ring. Did it heat up after running for an hour + ? How was the oil pressure?

[CDK]

As I understand it, the smoke is in the engine bay and not coming from the exhaust. In that case, oil level or worn cylinder parts cannot be the cause.

Assuming you are a lucky guy, the tube or hose for the crank case ventilation is loose, cracked or missing, so the engine cannot suck it in through the flame arrestor or air filter. So it is a simple external problem.

If on the other hand, you attract bad luck, the starboard cylinder head may be cracked, or even the block, making things much more serious.

[jabroni]

Yes, the engine only smokes after is warmed up a bit. It could be the pvc valve or maybe gaskets are bad and when the block heats up, it expands and those leaks become apparent. The water temp isnt bad, it heat up to 160 degrees and then suddenly drops down to around 100, Im guessing the thermostat kicks in and lets in fresh cold water. I havent had a chance to do a compression test, I'll try sometime this week and post the results. Thanks guys.