So i have a 89 crx ls/t and its billowing out smoke. Its got a new h.g and piston rings. I took off the exhaust mani and the exhaust ports on the 1st and 4th cylinders were covered in oil. Could this be from a warped head, or bad valve guides and seals or something?

The heads off right now im gonna call a machine shop thursday...im just wondering if im on the right track?

 

Guides and seals would be the first place I would start...So yep, Thats a good guess. You checked compression in each cylinder before removing the head right?

 

use a straight edge on ur head and block to make sure neither is warped. otherwise, check replace guides/valve seals while the head is out.

 

I did a compression check before I put in the new h.g it was 150 across.....let a buddy borrow it after that and sure enough he cant find it anymore

With valve guides and seals wont the smoke go away after a couple minutes??

also I have arp head studs in it how tight down should they be?? I tightened the two middle ones with a allen wrench but the rest don't have a hole for it so they're just finger tightened.

 

With a warped head you'd have cylinder pressure spilling over into the coolant system. As long as the coolant system is functioning properly, you'd be able to see bubbles coming up through your coolant resevoir. You'd also be losing coolant. You said you got new rings- did you get the cylinders bored and/or honed? Installing new rings without at least a hone will cause problems. If the rings are fine and the coolant isn't bubbling, then it's going to be worn valve seals. ARP studs come with a little piece of paper that lists a higher-than-stock torque they should be tightened to. If you don't have these instructions, call ARP and get the torque spec.

 

Coolant is fine, no mixing, loss etc.

The cylinders were honed and cleaned, pistons were cleaned and rings clocked...The piston to wall gap looks kind big to me...ill measure it tomorrow and put it up but since its built for a turbo I think its ok, any idea about what it should be?

What about the actual studs themselves. When you put them in the block without the head on is there a way to torque them or is it just hand tightened?

 

The studs should be finger tight only and the nuts get tightened to torque. Piston-to-wall clearance (stock spec) should be between .0004" and .002" Good luck