While the Chevy LS Engine is one of the most popular powerplants for hotrods today, they all suffer from this same issue. On the surface, the problem signs show in the form of oil consumption, but it's not the typical valve seals that are the only culprit. You may need to dig a little deeper.
The top two rings of the LS pistons do the hard work of sealing the combustion chamber and helping to create compression. This is how we get the big boom out of the tailpipes. However, it's the oil ring/s that do the real dirty work. Pressurized oil lubricates the bearings, wrist pins, and even the cylinders, but this oil shouldn't make it to the combustion chamber. It's the oil rings job to scavenge this oil from the cylinder walls and return it back to the crankcase and oil pan. This procedure not only squeegees the oil straight down the cylinder walls, but it also collects the oil in the ring-lands of the oil ring/s. The scavenged oil in the ring-lands should, emphasis on should, drain back into the oil pan by way of reliefs.
The old small-block Chevys, back when we used to size engines in Cubic-Inches (283, 327, 350, 400, etc.), they used huge "windows" or slits manufactured into the piston oil-ring-lands. These LS pistons have 4 small notches manufactured into the bottom of the ring lands. Over time, these small notches clog up and they can't scavenge the oil like they should. Once this happens, then oil starts getting into the combustion chamber, thus oil consumption goes up and smoke makes it out the tailpipes. Fear not, there is an easy fix. Just drill some holes. A 7/64" drill bit will fit nicely in the width of the oil ring area.
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