Thanks for the speedy-quick posts. I wish I had taken more note of the camshaft condition. There was nothing obviously wrong with it, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time inspecting it.

I had not thought that the chain stretch could actually cause damage to a valve. It was way off--can't remember exactly how much, but I remember thinking that it was so off that it was getting close to being off by a whole tooth, which I think is 18 deg. It may have been off by like 15--it was a lot. Are you thinking that timing could have been off so much that a valve could come in contact with a piston?

I was shocked as well that the car could run with 100 in one of the pots. I do recall when I did the seals that at least two valves I could move a little side-to-side in the guide. Not a whole lot, but probably enough to prevent some pressure in the cylinder.

What about the smoke dissipating underway or at high rpm? When rings are bad, does the blue smoke dissipate at high rpm? Or is that more indicative of valves?