would the lack of the vtec working cause the car to run rich and have a drakish smoke come out of the exaust???

 

No, if the vtec isn't working the car would just not allow you to go over 5800 rpms. vtec wont engage if there is something wrong with the solenoid or you have too much oil (over the second dot).

Is it black smoke or blue smoke? My guess is it's probably burning oil a lot of it. You could try resetting the ECU by disconnecting the neg battery cable for 10 min, then hooking it back up and running it idle for 15 min.