well... my car was re-built to be a low 13 second car, and it's running right now like a high 13 second car... i put a good 2k miles on the motor before i started to take a few WOT passes, so i know i broke it in pretty good. i noticed though that when i got the car back, oil seemed to be seeping threw the oil cap onto the valve cover. replaced the cap and that seemed to fix it. then i noticed oil dripping from the filter. it's a verry small oil leak that's pretty much just a thin layer of oil on the oil filter... just enough to notice it. the car seems to be missing (engine shakes like a beast at idle) and im about to do a leakdown test to get to the center of the problem.

my question is, before i do the leakdown test on thursday, is there any way for me to go and figure out for myself that my car is experiencing blow by? i do remember my mechanic telling me that when they first rebuilt the engine, it was running rich for a while before they figured out it was the EGR valve that was causing it to run rich. it had fouled up 3 sets of plugs if i recall correctly. do you think that might have f*ked up the rings enough to cause blow by? thanks for any help i can get... i want the problems in my car to stop already so i can enjoy the damn car to it's full potential.