That would be my assumption, my answer, when it becomes embarrassing to drive up a hill.Are you asking how low can your compression go before you should address an old engine?
Yes!Are you asking how low can your compression go before you should address an old engine?
From your question you must have a 383, so what compression no's do you have? From that we can tell if you need to be worried or not.
Which brings me back to my original statement "when it becomes embarrassing to drive up a hill".That doesn't seem too bad, especially as they are the same. If you had 90 in 7, and 35 in another, you'd have a serious mis-fire going on. The motor is till tired, but unless you're planning on running some quarter miles, it should still serve you for a good while.
I plan to just run it. It does not smoke at all and still runs smooth. I will plan to rebuilt the engine in the future but for now I will let it ride as is.With that compression test.
Does it do what you want it to do right now without smoking? If so, run it.
Does it smoke or do you plan on any performance additions? Rebuild it.