Cranking Compression versus Oil Control

Bought a '69 roadrunner with original 383, 93,000 original miles and the motor has never been apart. I checked the compression when I bought it (170 psi in 6 cylinders, 165 in 1 and 175 in 1) so I was pretty happy with that, especially with that many miles on the engine. Unfortunately the engine uses quite a bit of oil (1 quart in 500 miles) that I assume is cause by bad oil rings or possibly the valves/heads.

Question is; do you believe that I have oil control issues due to the rings with compression that high/consistent or do suspect the valves/heads?

The valve seals are probably toast. Intake gasket leak is also worth looking at. Possible stuck oil rings, but I doubt it.
Doug

I would imagine the valve seals are dry and crusty. I would buy a nice spring compressor and change the seals out before I looked further.

Then on my other shoulder there is the little guy saying ti could probably benefit from freshening the heads up and putting hardened seats in for the exhaust. Or Edelbrock sells nice mostly ready to go aluminum heads also lol.

Thanks for the opinions guys.

All the plugs are fowled so I suspect it's not an intake leak. I'll take a look at the valve seals when I get a chance.

Maybe you should change the oil first - wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the valve seals in the pan after 50 years.

The old rubber umbrella seals harden, crack and fall apart. It's pretty quick and easy to change them out. If you are going to keep the car, throw a fresh set of gaskets on the intake, put in a fresh double roller timing set, a windage tray and clean the oil pan while you're at it. You may need a fresh accelerator pump plunger if it sat for a long time. Add a phenolic spacer under the carb and insulate the fuel lines near the motor.

Then recurve the distributor so you can run a bit more initial with out going over 34 -36 total. Make sure you hook the vacuum up to manifold vacuum, so it retards when the throttle is opened..

what do you think ported vacuum does when the throttle is opened?

the engine is wore out. all the oil in the chambers is propping up cranking compression. the valve seals have fell apart long ago, guides probably shot. I believe those engines came with cast rings and rope seal. if you yank a head i'll bet there's a noticeable ridge at the top of the cylinders. those old HP engines were rode hard back in the day and the lead in the gas ate them up. freshen it up and go another 90,000 miles.