First start on a fresh stroker build...lots of white smoke

[Minerva954]

Just finished building and installing my 4.6 stroker into my 98 TJ today. After finally getting the distributor and timing set right (took nearly an hr to figure that out) I started it for the first time. It ran good for the first 3 or so minutes, I installed a new cam so I had to rev it between 3k and 2k rpm to help cam break in. While I was doing this I started to notice alot of white smoke, so I shut it off. I walked around and figured it was just the header wrap burning off, so I started it back up. Then I noticed it was all coming from the tail pipe. Solid white smoke. I know I put the head gasket on right and torqued everything down to spec so I'm really confused. There is no water in the oil either, its still nice and royal purple in color. After starting and shutting the engine down a few times it is hard to fire though, it spins over a good 5 seconds before firing, but once running it sounds great and is very snappy on the throttle response. Any help would be greatly appreciated it. This is not my first engine build, but it is my first jeep engine build. Below is the build list to help out if needed;

258 crank
258 rods
.30 over bore
24lb injectors<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<I'm using the green 24lb injectors, I've heard to use the blue ones, is there a difference?
ported/polished head
chevy stainless valve train with springs
head milled .020
stock push rods and rockers
.43 victor head gasket
crane cam and lifters
63mm throttle body
header
ported intake mani
all new normal wear items (plugs, wires, cap , rotor, belts, etc)

[SilverXJ]

You have a coolant leak into a combustion chamber some place. White smoke = coolant; grey smoke =oil; black smoke = gas.

Raise each piston to TDC and see if you can find one that is cleaner than the rest. You can also pressurize the cooling system and see if coolant is going into a cylinder.

With the head milled and the Chevy valves you might check your lifter preload.

[Minerva954]

Thats what I thought, but theres no coolant in the oil. So I was stumped on that one, theres nothing else it could be?

[Minerva954]

How do you check the lifter preload? The valves are fully closing, and when they are there is just a little movement in the rocker arms once torqued down.

[SilverXJ]

Thats what I thought, but theres no coolant in the oil. So I was stumped on that one, theres nothing else it could be?

How did the previous engine die? Did it dump coolant and oil in to the exhaust? Are you using the same exhaust?

[haroldpo6]

Check your plugs, had same thing happen to me, was a new injector stuck open flooding the a cylinder.

[fannman]

did you use the black felpro valve seals if so they are junk, my engine did the same thing and i replaced them again on second build and same thing white smoke or kinda grey smoke,the way i knew was on the third time i went to fix other problems with motor the intake had oil all in it,,look in the intake with throttle body open, if oil is in there its the seals,,i put the blue ones on it and problem solved,if thats your problem

[Minerva954]

Sorry for the absence, I found out what the problem was....remember I said it took me forever to get the timing set? Well it wasn't set right, it was running extremely lean. So it was building up so much internal heat it was smoking. I didn't realize that this was the problem until after I broke in the cam and saw the aftermarket header glowing orange like brakes at a 24 hr endurance race. So I got the timing set back and it runs great with no smoke, except I think I blew a weld or split the header due to the heat because now I'm hearing a very loud valve tap like a bad exhaust leak. I haven't pulled the header yet to confirm. Hopefully thats all I did was blow the header, and not overheat anything too bad to where it did internal damage, I've got too much time and money involved for that.

[SilverXJ]

I'm still not following where the smoke came from. What was burning off?

I hope the sound you are hearing is more like a pfft than a metallic tick.