I just got a 72 El camino and want to freshen up the engine without pulling it. i took off the valve covers and it looked like there was deposits of white stuff in the oil? what is that? But basically I want to know about some products to use on my 350 to make it run better but keep costs down. Oil, additives and so on.  

For a oil additive I would recomend lucas oil stabilizer.The white stuff in the oil is most likely water drain it and check if so then intake or head gaskets could be leaking or even a cracked head or block.  

WHOA! White stuff in the oil? That motor's gotta come out, white stuff in the oil means there's water in it, which means either a blown head gasket, bad intake manifold gasket, or a cracked block/cylinder head.

Treat the motor as suspect, and pull the whole thing apart. Otherwise you'll just be throwing money away.  

i second that motion! go ahead and start looking for a 2nd motor also. if the elco is driveable before you pull the motor, build a motor you know is good before pulling the first one. otherwise, you'll be down a car waiting on time to tear the motor down, having the heads/block checked, only to find out you can't rebuild it. im not saying that it definitely can't be rebuilt, but ive found that having multiple part options always works out best. best of luck in whatever you decide from here

-brandon  

Sorry to oppose! But I'd drain the sump(oil pan) see if theres any water in there.Then flush the engine from oil filler cap with one or two gallons of kerosene and let it drain out the plug hole.You may just have moisture or water contamination. Fill the radiator ,ensuring that it does stay full.With the oil pan plug still out.Hire or borrow a radiator coolant pump. Pump the radiator to specified PSI and check that you dont have instant or gradual pressure loss as this means internal leakage.If ok,buy cheap new oil and filter.Refit oil pan plug and fill oil and fit new filter pre soaked with new oil.........crank motor without spark plugs as a last check to see if any coolant/water will come from any of the plug holes.IF yes, its head gaskets.If no, then fit the plugs after squirting a little CRC aerostart down each hole.Start the engine and see what happens.I make it a good rule to put new dist.cap,new rotor,new plugs,new leads and breaker points if fitted. Start and see.If it runs well for 30 mins.Drain oil you just put in,Get good oil and new filter and away you go.  

that makes sense. it is a good, less labor intensive investigation. id still hunt for another motor, because you can never have to many extra parts. thanks for sharing that info. ill keep that in mind on my next project  

If you have the land and storage room,have as many spares and motors as you like.If I could afford it I'd have a salvage yard.On storing long term motors ,when not in use always drain the coolant.If you leave it,cylinder bores are prone to pitting if the engine is'nt run.  

if your motor checks out o.k. based on what powerdreams said to do then its just condensation. but condensation is not good. you need to find out why you are getting so much. if the motor oil dosnt get hot enough that will cause condensation "build up". oil needs to break 200 degrees to evaporate the water in it that forms after its shut down or it will just build up. check your crank case ventalation system. are you ventting on one valve cover and sucking in to carb from the other valve cover. or do you just have breathers in the valve covers. change your pcv valve (even if it rattles when you shake it). condensation (water) rust the check ball and spring in the pcv valve. you ask about oil additives and such. i would say save your $ and use it on other things that will make a difference. over the counter additives will nickel and dime you to death with very little or no notice in perforemance. you can go to a g.m. dealership and get some motor flush. its a bit costly compared to over the counter stuff but it works. i put a bottle in my gas tank once and black "liquid" carbon came out the tail pipes till it was gone. as far as freshen up the motor with out taking it out theres not much more you can do that powerdreams already said. you could pull the heads and have a machine shop freshen them up. but that gets a bit costly and you want to keep it cheap. you could have a kit put in your carb or at least have it ajusted (dont forget about the choke!!). everybody overlooks the carb. an intune carb saves gas keeps the inside of the motor clean (even your oil to an extent) helps the spark plugs last longer and has a big role in how well your car runs.  

well i got some new gaskets and got a deal on some Camel Hump Heads SBC 462's 1.94/1.50 stainless valves, Z28 valve springs, tapped for screw in studs, and some port work. I was going to bolt on these new heads when i do the head gaskets. Is there any intake mods that i have to do to use these head or anything else i should look out for. I have never switched out heads before so would like some advice please.  

1955-86 intakes have the same bolt pattern and no mods should have to be made to the intake but if I remember right those heads have no accessory holes.I would also port match the intake ports to the head ports witch will also help the performance.Hope this helps.  

I would also use carb. cleaner or lacquer thinner to clean both head and block surfaces as well as remove both block drain plugs on each side to keep coolant from getting on the gaskets.  

what kind of brackets do i need to get around the acsesorry hole problem?  

To the best of my knowledge they never made brackets to get around that problem. I don't think they had power steering or a/c back then.A machine shop might be able to drill and tap heads for accessary holes but you would have to check with a good machinist to verify that it could be done without problems.  

The machinist that does my machine work said that there is not enough material to drill and tap the heads.He said that he has used them before but modified and made his owne brakets.  

what?! that is a double hump itself. what about a serpentine setup or something. how did they mount the alt. on cars that had camel heads.