I very carefully straightened the valve cover nut/stud seating areas and the little steel reinforcements that sit on top of it, and I also used some forma gasket outboard of the neoprene seal itself, and I seated that quite firmly on the head. I also have packed paper towels between the sheet metal timing belt backer and the block, to catch any stray oil that runs down the front face of the block from the head. It does not appear that any is. This I *have* checked. Studs appear to be even height all across the head.
When checking this with the timing belt cover off and the engine running, the oil is coming up from the crank area and being flung off the belt as it goes around the cam gear, especially at higher revs. The delay between the startup and the appearance of oil on the belt is fairly short, less than a minute after startup.
I could probably live with the loss of oil, at least for the short term, but the problem is that at speed, this oil gets blown onto the right front brake, and THAT is a real problem.
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