Remohbill, The heavy carbon we see says much oil burning but these early engines were notorious for oil consumption as built with 1 quart in 1000 mi being considered good.
They didn't use a positive seal on the stem and the earliest had shorter valve guides than later in the year 55.This combined with lots of oil in the valve covers made for high oil consumption.
We learned early on that a must when doing valve work was to install Perfect Circle type seals---the exact type that GM finally went to in about 1968.Your heads require cutting the guide tops to install them but is a 30 second per guide job with the appropriate tool in a 1/2 inch drill.
55 V8 blocks are getting scarce as they were different than any other year having no boss on the block for an oil filter.
A clue as to whether this oil is being passed by the rings can be had by observing the piston crown --if much oil is being allowed up by the rings the piston will be washed clean of carbon in the area nearby.This is nearly always found around the periphery of the piston top and it will be juicy with oil.
Last edited by enginenut; 09/04/2011 3:13 AM.
