I searched this forum and was able to come up with a lot of info. that will help me but I still have one remaining question.

I have been fighting fouling situation for a while on a 79 Z28 that I bought which had been stored for 10 years, supposedly, before I bought it. I will be pulling the valve covers off here this weekend but I figured I could get some insight from the forum now.

Did 1979 Z28 Camaro’s have positive valve stem seals?

On a SBC, I don't think there is such a thing as a positive/permanent valve stem seal... J/K, kinda...

I think you'll find the real problem is going to be worn valve guides. You can try new seals and they may work for a while but you'll be back to the same issue soon.

The umbrella type seem to work a little better and last longer than the o-ring type, but either way you still have to pull the springs.

Valve seals is a pretty common prob with chevy engines.. Chevy used a 2 part valve seal.. 1 is the rubber O ring that fits around the stem of the valve at the top. Second part of the seal is a metal cup that fits over the top of the valve spring, under the retainer.

The O ring does very little IMO.

Like corkye said the umbrella type seals works much better than the O ring. Myself I replace the O rings with the umbrella seal and remove the metal cup just to save weight on the valvetrain. Works great for me.

Here's the diff types of aftermarket seals..

umbrella...
http://www.competitionproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=5100

Viton seals.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=S5325

PC seals.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=S5300


But again like corkye said if you have valve guide wear seals will not fix that prob

+3 i still use the o-ring with the umbrella's though. just to keep the excess oil from dripping down the stem between the keepers. seals would be a 2 hour try to see if it worked for a while. wouldn't count on it lasting with alot of miles on it though.

To answer your direct question- NO, SBCs of that era did not come with any kind of positive seal around the valve stem. The combination of the o-ring and the shedder kept most of the oil off the valve stem, but not all. It doesn't take a lot of vavle stem wear to start blowing blue clouds at startup on an old small block.

Sometime in the mid-80s they started using a positive seal PLUS the o-ring and shedder.

Your stock valve guide bosses of that era won't take a push-on seal in most cases without machining. They're too fat. Sometimes you can shove on a set of those Viton seals that Night Rider posted, but usually they will just ride up off the guide boss and start going up and down with the valve. Unbrella seals in combination with the stock o-ring and shedder arangement is about as good as you can do without machine work. Oh, and don't forget that anything you put on the valve stem (umbrellas seals) or guide boss (Viton seals) will reduce how much lift they will take before the retainer stacks solid against the seal.

Thank you all for your posts, thank you night rider for the links, and thank you Damon for answering my question.

So there are no valve seals stock on a 1979 Z28… so it would not just be a simple replacement of the old seals… valve guides would have to be machined… etc.

So the answer is don't waist your time and rebuild the heads. While you are at it you might as well look at the short block. Hey if you’re going to rebuild the short block, you might as well look at that 383 stroker kit? If you are going to go with a stroker kit you might as well buy new aluminum heads! Am I right? At least that is the way I am going to explain it to my wife. ;)

Thanks again guys!

So the answer is don't waist your time and rebuild the heads. While you are at it you might as well look at the short block. Hey if you’re going to rebuild the short block, you might as well look at that 383 stroker kit? If you are going to go with a stroker kit you might as well buy new aluminum heads! Am I right? At least that is the way I am going to explain it to my wife. ;)

Thanks again guys!

Welcome to the clinic..............the first step is admitting you have a problem........or deny it like the rest of us.....

Does it go like this…. Hi my name is Mike and I am a horsepowerholic?:D