Well like I had said the air filter was like super clogged, and the one plug I checked was carbon fouled and looked to be quite old too. So I changed the air filter yesterday and it immediately ran 10x better and as soon as I have a lil more cash ill change the plugs n wires and change the oil n filter. And it I get any kind of improvement from that like I think it will Im hoping it will run really decently. I only paid $200 for it, so if it turns out to be a HG should I try to fix it my self? Im pretty mechanically proficient but have only ever helpped my Pops do 2 HG jobs in a ford 351 n a chevy 302. Do you think I should try to fix it? It's got a nice interior and aside from ****ty paint which I have access to a spray booth so dont matter n the body is straight

 

Thanks for the diagram and picture.
and I mean like if I choose to fix this insteada scraping it should it be a HG, will it last a long time? (Will change timimg chain n water pump'at same time)

 

I've done them many times. If you do them correctly, you will likely never have another HG issue. I would try the other stuff first though as it sounds as though it may just be lack of maintenance causing the issue.

Don't scrap it, these are getting very hard to find. If you only gave $200 for it, you'll only have about $450 in it after doing HGs, and you'll have an engine that will outlast the van.

I would be more than willing to help you out if you were anywhere nearby me.

 

Update:

After putting 150 miles on it, 60 of which was spent horse beating it one day to see if i could get any other issues to arise... It has almost stopped smoking completely except for the normal lil bit of light exhasut except for when I come to a light and sit for a minute or so when I take off wheather hard or easily it puffs a pretty thick good size cloud of I think whitish blue smoke. I think it was all the gas in the crank case maybe burning off because all the lvl of oil/gas(which was 3 inches past the full line on the dip stick) went down it smoked less. All ive done is change the air filter and add half of quart of oil yesterday because when I checked it yesterday there was finally only a slight slight hiny of gas smell in it was about a quart low on oil. No check engine light or nothing, the moter seems to run pretty good now. So can someone tell me what they think about the puff of smoke when I take off? Or do yall think when I finish with the plugs n wires n oil change n fuel filter change it will be a good dependable lil vehicle. (Sorry for writing a book lol)

Sincerely,
Scott
Thanks for all your help.
BTW I live i. Albuquerque, NM

 

If it's whitish-blue smoke, it's likely the valve guide seals are leaking.

The dipstick on these is read by the 2 notches on it (bottom notch is add, top notch is full), not by the 2 holes located farther up. If it was/is over filled it will puff smoke until it burns out the excess.

I've also noticed a lot of 3.0s have a sweet spot for oil level. If they a totally full according to the dipstick they will burn some. They usually have a sweet spot somewhere between the add and full marks where they won't.