Definately not the valve covers I would see the
oil around the pockets, the
oil wouldnt get past the tapered seat into the thread area, until I break them loose of course. I'm leaning towards the high compression rings not seated theory, I'm trying to get some info on the childs and albert zero gap rings I think they should have seated by now. My initial run in went smooth without a hitch, started right up the first crank and I've put a couple hundred miles on the motor no highway just short bursts around town mostly, and have yet to blast anything above 5000ish RPM. I'm hopeing it will go away, or it's just going to get worse and the cure may become more evident to me, thanks for your input and I will micro inspect those valve covers.