After reading some other posts on a similar problem to mine (Blue smoke and semi-rough running at start up) I understand that it is most likely my valve seats/guides. How hard of a fix is this? Can I do it in my garage with basic hand tools? Is there anything I can just go ahead and upgrade while I am in there? The car is a 350 TPI Iroc-z, stock w/ 80k miles on it. Any help or ideas would be great!

 

The cause of the oil-burning problem is seals, not seats.

It can be done in a driveway with hand tools by a non-pro, with good results. Access to compressed air will make it easier but is not essential. It should take about a day for a first-timer, and would be a good education about alot of the parts of an engine.

The easiest things to upgrade would be rockers and valve springs since those have to come off anyway. This is nearly half the labor of a cam swap so if that's something you're interested in doing you might want to plan it at the same time.

This will not affect how the car runs at start-up. If your car seems like it's rich at startup you probably have one or more leaky injectors. A rich condition will cause gray or black smoke for sure, and some blue mixed in.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

 

Thanks for the help RB83L69, any idea what sort of cost I am looking at here? Also, how bad is it if I wait on doing it, will it cause any serious damage or run problems?

 

That's just the seals he's talking about, not the guides. I picked up 8 umbrella seals in a kit from Pep Boys for about $12.

You need a tool to compress the valve springs while the heads are still on the engine. That's about a $20 or so tool.

You also need a way to keep the valve up as the spring is compressed. An air compressor will do the job, using an adapter to mate the hose to the sparkplug hole. Another method is to turn the engine until the piston is at top dead center, then compress the valve against the top of the piston - a very risky method, because if the engine turns, you just dropped a valve into the cylinder. A third is to put a length of rope in through the spark plug hole so the valve is jammed between the rope & piston - works, but tedious.

I just did the intake valves on mine, made a big difference in that startup smoke and oil consumption. Probably should have done the exhaust as well, but...

------------------
82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.73 unlimited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LB9 w/ZZ3 cam, TBD heads, exhaust, paint, etc.).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. 0.030 over 396, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.