stem seals will just burn oil if worn or lose (not much) but wont lose compression i would just push the seal back on the guide!

can a stem seal failure cause a loss of compression? I pulled the valve cover & on the #2 cyl. I can see the seal riding up the stem not secured down onto the guide like its supposed to be - any chance this is my problem for the compression? I can understand it for the oil burn issues but not sure about the compression aspect.

Sometimes a glazed bore could cause the issues you mentioned
from over fueling but more likely in quad carb setups.

well I took it out on the freeway today & ran it up to Bellingham which is about 85 miles north of where I'm at so I put about 175 miles on it today, pulled it in the garage when I got home & checked the compression & it hasn't budged, still at about 120+ psi.

I'd think the rings would of bedded in by now, that was under load running between 65 & 75 mph the whole way so I think I'm in for a tear down & re-ring of #2, I can keep trying to get it to quit but I'm mostly just doing around town puttering so not much load going on to get rings to seat.

Its frustrating, I really didn't want to pull the motor again.

I have had this problem over the years also... not so much smok issue - to me that means worn rings, but ring wear and knowing if they have bedded in or not. As Estyre said, they may not be worn in yet or they could have lined up. We i have had both problems. I have put in new sets before and they had low compression in each cylinder, so i have pulled it down and rang the ring builder, he said put it back together and run it in for longer. Sometimes they just take forever. I have also had broken rings and the line up issue. Can i suggest you purchase gapless rings from "Perfect Seal Piston Rings" he is located in Melbourne and i can assure you there will be no problems after this.

Do some pulls up a hill with a good amount of throttle working in the 2500 to 4000 rpm range. It's the compression gases behind the rings that provide the force to hold the rings against the cylinder walls.

If you baby the engine too much during break in the rings don't get the force necessary to seat properly.

Ernie (bige) would know whats happening ! The rings might not be comletely bed in yet ,if the comp comes up with oil then its the rings ,so unless the rings have lined up

Ernies the guy to talk to ,he's got years of experience on a series motors and realy knows his stuff

the motors a complete rebuild - new rings, bearings, cam, crank polishing, head re-done, etc.... I have not loaded it up a hill too much & the oil in cylinder test usually indicates rings leaking by. Compression shot up past 150 with oil in cyl., w/o oil its at 120+ psi - I talked to the machine shop who I had do the bore, hone & crank work (I assembled the motor - that means I'm the one who screwed it up) & they said the same thing, take it out on the freeway for a 2 hr drive & load it up, that about the only way its going to seat in.

If that doesn't work I get the pleasure of tearing it down & re-ringing the #2 piston - oh boy!!!

so the engine has only done 150 miles? bedding in the rings is done by loading up the motor, not revving it hard. Like going for a drive up a hill/mountain... but if its down on comp and youve just done the rebuild id be looking at the head as being the culprit

Hi, to be honest i think it would be better to overhaul the engine new rings big end bearings, even main bearings would be a good investment, i did mine almost 2 years ago did everything except the cam bearings, and solved the smoking problem