Newbie: 1978 Spider

[smbiorn]

Hello everyone! This is a great forum and I've already found so many helpful comments and posts.
My engine is leaking oil like crazy, but otherwise seems sound. The undercarriage is covered in a thick film of oil/grease/gunk and there are multiple drips on the drip pan, at least one of which falls on the hot exhaust pipe and creates quite a good bit of smoke (I've seen it doing this, so I don't think there is any exhaust leak, which I haven't observed) since I changed the oil right after buying it.
I still need to pull the spark plugs and examine and do a compression test, but otherwise I can say the following: there doesn't appear to be any oil in the coolant (but there could be, after all, I am just a newbie at cars) and there is no smoke coming out the tail pipe.
One night after a relatively mild, short drive, there were bubbles in the coolant overflow reservoir (while running), but I haven't seen them after either time I've driven it since then (but I don't think I looked while it was running), and the temp gauge redlined briefly (the fan had become disconnected somehow and is now working fine; haven't had any overheating during/after two subsequent drives).
So there are some things to be done (top end gaskets, at least?), but that is why I bought the car. I'm looking forward to a long, enjoyable project. Once I get the mechanical side running smoothly (if ever!), I plan to fix some interior issues, such as the speedometer cable (disconnected from back of gauge and doesn't appear to have a cable inside of the housing; there is just a snap on end connected to the sheathing), and new center console, carpets, and dash.
Appreciate all of your input and participation, this is an outstanding resource!

[RRoller123]

Welcome aboard! You will find lots of friendly and helpful people here!

[calvinconrad]

welcome to another socal spider. put up a photo when you get a chance.

[smbiorn]

thanks everyone. I haven't taken a picture of the car yet, but I'll be posting pics of the spark plugs soon.

[tartan18]

Welcome! This forum is a fantastic source of encouragement and tech help. My 1975 was a rolling, leaking wreck but the price was right and I wanted a challenge. It turned into more of a challenge than I anticipated. But slowly things got cleaned up. Like you my engine had more leaks than Congress so over the past year I have replaced just about every seal and gasket. Here is the before ...



And here is what my leak-less engine looks like today ...