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I've been trying to diagnose the smoky exhaust from the Z Car for the past 3 years. It all started one pleasant weekend in May 2000 (2001?). The Z car was recently liberated from Grampa's garage on the Cape. We had done good work there: rear drum brake cylinder, suspensions bushings and ball end joints. I had actually noticed the oil leakage about mid-week, driving back from Q in Lower Allston there was a bit of oil smoke coming off the engine as we departed the car on Prospect St. Oil seeping from under the valve cover onto the block was my diagnosis. Nothing a little RTV caulking couldn't handle. Easy enough to remedy; too bad I didn't. After driving to Durham, NH the crank case was bone dry and I burnt up a crankshaft bearing. What followed was a 2+ year rebuild in my parent's garage. Now it's summer 2006 and there have been other improvements: new front brake calipers and steel lines, master and slave clutch cylinders. But still the smoke. I though it might be related to timing (anything other than bad piston rings/head gasket please!). I pulled the valve cover and lo and behold, one of the rocker arms was not rocking. Could a closed intake valve cause exhaust smoke? Not likely, but it can't help and also explains a power lose since the rebuild. While trying to check the timing sprocket alignment, I disengaged the chain tensioner to an abnormal degree. There was no way the sprocket was going back on while the front cover was attached. So, I've removed the radiator, water pump, fan belt and crank pulley. The front cover was pried off, and there was the chain tensioner with a wrecked spring. I've order new gaskets and water pump and tensioner to put the front cover back together with, but while I'm at it, shouldn't get the camshaft looked at? Here's a major confession: while rebuilding the engine, I had to run it to heat the head bolts for the hot torque spec. The oil tube that runs along the camshaft was not in place, and I smoked the camshaft a bit. Galling on the lobes and rocker arms. I was not in a mood to stop, so, I put the engine back together, the camshaft was to be something "I would get to". Fast forward to this summer. I found a machine shop in Beverly. I thought I could get a regrind, but no, the cam lobes are too far gone says the man. Luckily, he found a replacement for about 1/4 the price I've seen online, with internally lubed lobes to boot. I still need all new rocker arms and pivots. Unluckily, he could detect baked-on ethylene glycol (coolant) on the shaft, meaning the head gasket is suspect. Rather, if the engine overheated (it did, remember way back there in 2000/1?) then the head is warped and should be machined. So, it looks like I'll be pulling the head this weekend. The more I think about it, I'm convincing myself that the smoke is blacker rather than bluer. Maybe I just need to adjust the carbs. ...and that radiator should probably be replaced to guard against overheating in the future.