gonna whine for awhile. Please say something encouraging.

[dhughins]

I bought my 69 swb just a couple months ago. Paid what I thought was reasonable price. I knew I didn't buy a showpiece, but now that i'm starting to have problems with it I'm getting discouraged.

It started smoking real bad on 1st startup. It's leaking alot of oil on the passenger side. I was hoping a valve cover gasket was all that it was, but a new 1 didn't fix it. When I had the valve cover off there is a lot of sludge in there. I gotta look into it more, but looks like oil is coming out of head near the back passenger spark plug.

It supposedly has a 1976 305 in it. Haven't been able to get the numbers off of it yet to be sure, but I would rather have a 307,327,350. I just want a good driver.
I don't have a garage or even a backyard shed, so I don't know how I could build a new motor, and even than how reliable would that be? (i'm only somewhat mechanically inclined) Looks like a base crate engine is around $2000 by the time i get everything and put it in. My wife will kill me, and I wouldn't blame her. I just installed a ECE front disc brake conversion $$$$.

If I bought a crate I would have way more invested in it than I could ever sell it for. Is that just a "facts of life thing"?

What advice do ya'll have for me? I would like to just drive it but with it leaking as much as it is it will cost a lot just to keep oil in it, plus the embarrasing issue of it smoking everywhere I go while oil burns off the header.