Update. Prior to pulling the intake, I inspected the corners and the front right was in contact with the front crossbar and bolt head. The casting flash has now been ground back (at all corners). When intake removed, there was noticeable oil at all four sets of runners. There were gaskets below and above the valley pan, total combined thickness measured 0.07". Cleaned everything and mocked up dry, no gaskets, and the intake set very well. Ran a .006 feeler around everywhere and didn't find any gaps. Bought a new gasket set (Felpro 1214) and have installed the intake and new plugs. Did not get the carb back in place yet; Edelbrock Thunder Series 800 cfm - set at "out of the box settings". Will fine tune when I get past this oiling/plug fouling issue.

Did a lot of reading over the weekend and I dismissed the PCV valve too abruptly; as many suggested....my bad. Thansk to those who raised the warnings! The reason I was quick to dismiss, was the PCV value is new (supposedly factory correct replacement, 3 ribbed) and I recently had it and the hose removed to do some tuning with a vacuum gauge. I removed it to plug off the carb PCV inlet...chasing a "vacuum leak"; consistent variable vacuum of about 2" (10" to 12" at idle). The PCV was working and the hose was not oily at all. I have vintage 1970 CalCustom covers and they do have baffle plates.

However! I remember that when I stuck my finger over the PCV value inlet while idling 800 rpm, it sucked the crap out of it and I remember thinking WOW! at that moment; then went on without thinking anymore about it. My idle vacuum is a bit low at 12" (maybe not so low with the XE274H), but it builds to 15" at 1500, 18 at 2000-2500 prm and stays max about 20" up to 3000+ cruising. I running 3.73s so 3000 rpm is about 65 mph. 20" of vacuum all the time could suck a lot of wet vapors.

So, I don't want to go down this oily path again. What action should I take now to address any PCV issue? I do not want to install a liquid-vapor separator. Have read to add a inline restriction of 0.06" diameter (1/16") orifice in the 3/8 tubing. That is awful small in comparison to a 3/8" ID hose, and is there any "science" to it? Would it draw enough crankcase pressure out?? How do you have "correct" PCV on a performance engine?

M/E Wagner Dual Flow Adjustable PCV Valve?? I'm all ears.....