white smoke when I start up, and the battery won't hold a charge for long
 

I have a 1987 n/a, and just recently got it out of the shop. . .on the way home, I started her up and white smoke bled out the exhaust while I was still idling, but cleared away when I drove off, and it still does this every time I start it up. . .my battery also won't hold a charge for jack, it's new and so is the alternator. Any advice on what my problem could be?

you've got a short? something is draining power off of the system. how much white smoke are we talking about?

Do a coolant system pressure test to see if you have a bad coolant seal, usually a little white smoke on startup is normal, alot of it when its cold, as with any car.

If the alternator and battery both test good, you probably have a drain somewhere, use a dmm to test current draw through different fuses.

if you arent losing any power that way, it could be a defective battery.

if you have coolant leake you wont have to do a pressure test.
check your overflow tank and also check your radiator fluid level.and if you were using up water you will soon hear your coolant level buzzer and light come on.
just squeese your upper radiator hose to make it simple if it hold pressure then your ok for not,,do this after running your motor..
what it sounds like is you have worn oil controll rings and seals.
while the engine is stopped some oil leaks past the seals into the engine.
Also if your loosing charge on your batt then you could use a new battery.
have that checked.

my radiator is bad, I found that out after running it for 30 minutes. . .the white smoke that smelled like coolent is coming from the over flow tank because it will flow out and onto the motor. all my coolent levels are fine, and my battery is new, and seems to be holding a charge now. . .what is the oil contol rings and sealsand how do I test to see if they are working properly?

also. . .my thermostat has been reemoved by the previous owner. . . the idle is rough, so could that be a affect of this big mistake. . should I run tests on my emissions system?

Its really a bad idea to not run a thermostat. Your ECU richens the afr's when the engine is cold as part of the warm up process. Without the thermostat, the car might not even get up to operating temps, especially in the winter. And because you have fluid being pushed to the overflow, this doesnt mean a bad rad. Ive had 2 cars with blown coolant seals. The defining characteristic was coolant being pushed out. A simple test is to fill the coolant all the way up after the car is cold, start the car, take off the rad cap at idle and look for bubbles. If the car has a bad coolant seal, you should see bubbles trickling to the top.

Also, with a blown coolant seal, fluid leaks into the motor when it isnt running. Without positive pressure, it just seeps in. When you start the car, it gets burn. Just smell the exhaust. If its sweet, thats probably your problem.

I let it run for a while today and it took forever to ge tup to operating temps. . .so I'm going to put in a thermostat and do the check on the coolant like Shainiac said. But I'm confused, shouldn't there be a steady flow of bubbles, or should it be periodic or not at all?

Also, if I have a bad coolant seal does tha tmean a definant rebuild is in the near future, or will the car last a while longer with proper maintanence?

Depending on how bad the coolant seal is leaking, it will bubble a little or a lot. My last motor had a 1" chunk of the casting missing from around the seal. It bubbled like crazy. My motor now just barely trickles bubbles.

With a blown coolant seal, you "can" drive the car. I still drive my car anywhere within 10 miles or so, but only because its in no danger of overheating at that point. Im rebuilding it in a week anyway, just havent had the time to do it until now. Im sure driving it is not great on the irons. Having the compression constantly leak over one spot on the iron can be good.