Thanks Denny
The only other experience I had with a motor smoking a lot and using lots of oil was an Oldsmobile 455 back in 70's. When I finally took it apart I found that the oil control rings were frozen/rusted in their grooves and would/could not expand against the cylinders. A cheap ring job fixed it. I have been doing some internet research on oil consumption in old motors, etc and came across an old tractor discussion site: Per one commentator most of the early (00's-20's) auto/truck/tractor manufacturer's did not use an oil control ring at all. Even Model T's. Oil was cheap and nobody knew what smog was.... By the 30's nearly everybody was using a "wiper" ring to control oil consumption. With good compression but still using oil I think it is the oil ring causing my problem...? I keep hoping it may heal itself.
I too am holding off digging any deeper into this 216 until....
I am also running Rotella T, but just since the oil pan gasket and really have not put on enough miles to test it.
