White and "blue' mean or seem different depending on who is looking at it. Start with the easy things like fresh gas, but I think that is a grasp. Your power side seal is a bitch to get to as I recall, but it may be the reason you are getting the smoke you describe and you get a lot of the ridability symptoms you mention from a bad one.
Nice pic! (funny how after having the same wife for 42 years if I am asked to describe her I still do it like she was when we first met. I suppose I am blind that way.)