Oil Leak Around Valve Cover/Heads?

[brsox88]

So I noticed a little oil in the bilge and on the left side of the engine by the engine mount. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where its coming from, but seems around the valve cover or maybe the actual head. What concerns me is the valve cover and exhaust are completely touching, is this normal? Since the valve cover is plastic, is it possible it would melt it? Or with high RPM's and vibrations the exhaust could be pushing enough on the head/valve cover to leak some oil out.

 

[alldodge]

The exhaust is water cooled so there should be no issue with it melting.

Remove the oil fill cap when all warmed up and see if you have vapor puffing out of the cap. If you see oil vapor puffing out it could be the motor has to much blow by and pressure is pushing oil out under the valve cover gasket

 

[brsox88]

What do you mean by "blow by"? I though oil vapor out of the valve cover tubes was normal and no indication of an issue.The oil pressure is also at 40 psi and normal, when I WOT it seems to do it.

 

[alldodge]

Rings will not seal 100% even on a new motor, so yes there will always be a little. I well sealed motor you will barely see anything. If you see a lot of puffing then this is when folks actually call it blow by. So if there is quite a bit then the pressure builds up inside

 

[brsox88]

I'm not sure there is any possibility of build of pressure in the valve covers since there are vent tubes like I mentioned that attach onto the carb. I plan on taking the exhaust off tomorrow to see where exactly it may be leaking, but can anyone confirm its normal for the exhaust manifold to sit on the intake cover like my pictures?