cam tower studs
I have read several stories here at sohc4 about cam tower studs stripping out.
I had an acute case of this. If the oil is coming from the front, and between the head and cam cover gasket, in the fins in between, its the pucks or cam bearing hold down studs. Assume the pucks OK.
My studs were removed to port the head. Then smarty me i decided to use bolts. This stripped out the stud holes. One can run the studs in, with some thread sealer till they bottom and stop with little torque on them to distort the threads. The torque then comes from the nuts used to hold down the bearing and the load is on the threads of the stud, not the threads of the head.
Anyway, once those head threads are stripped out I say its a mortal wound.
Helicoils and Keen serts etc, will only open new pathways for the oil to wick out. On mine I could look in between the fins with a flashlight and actually see the oil dripping from the bottom of those holes.
On my current project, i have a head that has only been disassembled once before in its life (instead of 10-20 times). I reinstalled the studs with thread sealer and didn't tighten them too tight.
I'm hoping for no leaks, but i feel for you, its my fear too.