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I have a -98 Corvette LS1 in my hot rod and when I took off the intake manifold (Holley single plane 300-137) I discovered oil around the cathedral ports on the cylinder heads. Most of the oil seems to be inside the o-rings! Should I be worried? The engine does not consumes any oil and does not have any oil smoke in the exhausts. I do have PCV with oil catch tank. After 1000 miles it has a smaller amount of oil in the catch tank.
I don't have a catch can. The system is OE and oil vapor is drawn through the rocker and lifter covers and burned in the motor. My intake ports are wet as with most motors. The reason for a catch can is to prevent FI detonation. Under boost the oil can create hot spots. This is also true of high compression motors such as 13-1or higher, which no one does here.
Catch cans were developed for 900 HP NA gen I motors. In those motors, oil seepage and spark blowout is a problem. Tight plug gap clearances, bronze valve guides, viton seals, catch cans are necessary, but not for anything we're doing. So, follow the above advise and drive it.
This may set off a fire storm of beefs about this or that or the other, but in general thats why those mods were developed. Good luck and don't worry about it.
Check plug condition and chambers to see how much oil being burned. Remember - oil in cc will impact octane rating. If it gets bad you'll rattle/detonate the motor and usually oil consumption will go way up promoting further detonation. Hope this makes sense.
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Oil in intake manifold 
