Over filling with oil.

[static1800]

Not saying you are wrong but, you can do damage Spyda, the 8v's are a very strong reliable motor but near 20 year old gaskets can fail due to the increased pressure plus oil can get up past the rings.

I reckon heaps was going into the breather and back into the intake that's what all the smoke was. Might be an idea to clean out the breather and section where it goes to the manifold, check if its coated in oil.

The engine should be ok though, just don't make a habit of it

[benough]

Well I re-did the head gasket 10,000km ago so it's nice and strong.

Yeah well when I pulled the breather off the rocker cover no oil came out although a bit had leaked out onto the rocker cover.

Yeah will do tonight.

[benough]

Put new oil in tonight. All is fine/back to normal.

Took about 4L in the end for it to be sitting just under max.

Maybe it was the cold air or new oil but she did spin a bit free-er (spelling)