i just got done helping my friend build and install his LsVtec and once we started it we got massive amounts of white smoke from the exhaust, and a pretty big head gasket leak. we did a compression test and all cylinders came up between 170 an 180 psi except #4 which had no compression at all. when we pulled the spark plugs they were each wet (oil). right now i'm thinking it's a bent valve or valves in number 4 sticking open, and maybe across all the cylinders. we checked the head before we got it to make sure there were no bent valves by shooting carb cleaner into the intake and exhaust ports and there were no leaks too indicate bent valves.
any ideas are welcomed.
here the setup: all stock B16 head and pistons
golden eagle dowel pins, oem headgasket with exhaust side rivets removed.

 

bent valves would be very obvious at idle.

Sounds like he needs a new HG, is all. There is a chance that the head and/or block is warped, which wont allow the HG to seal properly. How many miles on the LS block?

 

not sure how many miles, but the valves do tick really loud at idle, we just checked the clearances and only two intake valves were to spec. one intake valve had a clearance of .020", and a bunch of the exhaust valves were at .0035". could it be that the exhaust valves are stretched, or maybe just poorly adjusted.