LA engine valve cover leaks

Kern Dog said
Well, shoot, OLdMan....that is so far beyond anything that I do, I'm not sure we are in the same league!

Regarding this picture.....

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Inside the blue circle you can see those nubs on the intake, Are they there to serve as a trough for the wires?
My Weiand intake ports don't overhang the heads but those weird nubs do. If I had the intake off, I'd have cut them off with a grinder. Instead, I put a 1/4" deep, 3/4" wide recess into the valve covers. The covers sit down fine and are actually sealing. I was out for a ride today and there was no oil burning smoke.
This old beater has a 360 with '308 heads, 280/474 cam, Holley 600 on a Weiand 4 barrel, points ignition, 360 manifolds and it is a blast to drive off road. 4.10 SG diff, 1.03 torsion bars, 1.25 front sway bar, 3/4" rear bar and cheap KYB shocks...

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I doubt I'll ever put headers on it or paint it nice. I have a shiny car...having a Roadkill type car is fun too.

I think that added material is there to reinforce the areas at the top of the intake ports where they meet the flange and keep them from cracking when torque is applied to the bolts. But I don't think having that area milled straight down from the flat surface at the top would affect the strength there. I think Steve's solution of milling it down would work fine. Looks like you've already got the valve covers clearanced. With all my years of building small blocks in other makes I don't remember running in to this. Only on the Mopar stuff. My Chevy stuff days was a long time ago so my memory might be fading. lol