Just got back in, have driven 155 miles today, speeds between stop and go city, to highway (25-70mph mixed), car has not yet shown any signs of
oil usage. Have meetings in the AM, but will try to get back out in the afternoon to put some more miles on the car. As stated above, temps this late morning into the mid afternoon were in the upper 90's (94 when we left the house, 97 when we got back on the first trip) with 60% and higher humidity levels. This afternoons drive was only 88 degrees when I left 82 degrees when I just got back home with humidity around 55%. Car ran the entire time like a champ, no overheating issues, no vapor lock, not even a hiccup......
More as I add miles to the car.
Bill S.
PS: I had a really nice 25 minute conversation with Bob Mason (9/9/2013 at 11:45am), he did state he found
one small pit in the bore (yes, in the skirt travel area) of one cylinder. When describing it he used the following "it was tiny, I
might have been able to feel it with a dental tool". He explained how he saw smoke coming out of the side pipe on the passenger side, and that is why he pulled the plugs on that side (as seen in my pictures). He also explained that he was asked to throw out some numbers, and he gave a worst case scenario using the words "
it may need" to be torn down, or it "
might need to be sleeved if it does not clean up with another hone of the cylinder". He was not that concerned with such a small item and did not honestly believe it was the cause of the smoke or
oil consumption. Since he was not allowed to dig any deeper due to the constraints that Peter put on him (not leaving the car so he could check things cold, not wanting to spend a lot of funds on this car), he was not surprised with what I told him I found (torn intake gasket, leaking valve covers and
oil pan), nor with what I have done in my own methodical way, nor the way I am now testing those repairs. He was genuine, quite candid, he did tell me that Peter was a stand up guy (which I already knew since I bought a car from him) and did come down and pay him some money for his time once the car was sold. Again, I will be reporting my long term finds with him, just in case I do end up having an oil consumption issue with more mileage on my repairs.