01/16 update
i have been fighting an oil leak. i have been messing around with the vacuum tubing because i was losing oil. it looked like it was getting pushed or sucked up through the pcv. as a result i was venting both the pcv and the valve cover vent to the atmosphere.
so i took my son to the p.g. sportsplex for a track meet on saturday morning. i drove it hard for about 1/2 hour on the beltway because we were late and the car seemed to be running well. when i pulled off, i saw the smoke. not alot, but i could see and smell it.
so i stop in the parking lot at fedex field and re-did the pcv and vent cover tubing. venting them to the atmosphere didn't seem good, so i put them on a tee and connected them to the vacuum side of the blower.
on the way home i was watching for smoke. it was easy to see because there was alot of it. so i pulled off into a mcdonalds and popped the hood. oil all over the driver's side back of the engine, all down the bell housing, the exhaust, and even splattered on the rear bumper. smoking like a chimney.
the weird thing is that i was not very low at all on the dipstick, and the blower was still full, so i don't really know where all the oil came from, unless it was filled higher than i thought.
i drove the rest of the way home very gently.
so i took it to my mechanic today and told him the story. he said the pcv needs vacuum and the valve cover vent can't have it. if anything, vent the valve cover before the t/b, which he did. he also said that it doesn't look like the oil was coming from the lower (which i was worried about), he said it looks to be coming out the (cork) valve cover gasket near #8. he then tried to get more oil to come out by driving it hard a little and was not able to. he also put in the 255 fuel pump and a new filter.
on the way home, it felt really strong. i drove pretty hard, but there was alot of traffic and i couldn't really get on it much. there was a little smoke when i got home, but that could be oil from before still burning off.
i am taking it back to the mechanic again tomorrow for the coil-overs, c/c plates, and balancer. i'm going to try to drive it hard to see if i can get more oil to come out for him.
here is the vacuum routing i have now:
oh, and now that it is making good power, i find out that my clutch is slipping. in 4th gear at about 3000 rpm, i mashed the gas. at about 3500, all of a sudden the tach jumped to 5500 and the car went nowhere. it's always something, huh?