Were your guides bad, or your seats/valves? Worn guides will usually run just fine, but use oil and smoke on decell. They can lead to bad valve seating, but unless you had some burned valves or some messed up seats, your compression problem was probably in the rings all along.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

It was a combination of both. The valve guides were shot in one cylinder and the valves did not seat properly in two of the cylinders. When it came to side to side play, some of the valves were pretty tight, while a couple of them could be wiggled around pretty good bit. It skipped horribly before the head, but now it runs ultra-smooth.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

about the rebuilding thing... you may have a point there

I know what you mean, Dennis. When I started my rebuild project, I was planning on spend, say, $2000 on everything and 15-25 days.
I ended up 70 days and $6000 later with new engine, new pistons and rod, welded and regrinded forged crank, shaved block and head, new alternator, distributor, radiator (custom made and pricey!), all the goodies you need for have a fresh beast in the engine bay, like new steel covered rubber hoses, some chrome plating work, of course all the gaskets, bearing, rings and thingys that you may know, THEN new parts for the front end, new brakes, rebuilt tranny, new wires on all the engine bay and underdash, rebuilted my steering column, and I may be forgettin something else.

But you know the pride and joy of ride these cars... ain't just ANOTHER car i the crowd... and on top of all this feelings: how many miles will the beast last? say 300K? say that you're like me and you like to step on the gas all day long for showing these japcrapmobile drivers some REAL power, maybe it'll last 200K or 150K...

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.