i have a 97 gs with some bolt ons and a fresh head gasket. since ive done the head gasket its been burning oil, smoking only at idle but very visible. the only thing i can think of is valve seals. any other suggestions before i do the seals????

That doesn't really make any sense, unless you got some dirt in the cylinders when the head was off or something... But yeah usually smoking only at start up is valve seals. Smoking all the time is gonna be rings.

Yep, Do a compression test and report back here. Should be between 170-225psi. If any way off from the others, put about a teaspoon of oil in the spark plug hole and run test again on that cylinder. if it stays the same, its valve seals on that cylinder. If it goes up, its rings.

did you do a valve job (if it needed it), and have the head milled within spec when you did this head gasket?

Did you torque your head bolts down in sequence and within the correct clamping force?