One of my wery old NOS 1,7 (VW411) heads have a flexible ring on each valve stem named "oil deflecting ring" in Haynes manual for the Porsche 914.
The official Porsche parts list has no ring on the stem.

I guess the rings are for reducing the amount of oil going ito the valve guides but since they were left out later i guess they did not help wery much?


/Lars S

that is known as a "valve stem seal", my engine does not have them (2 liter type IV)

I guess if you have worn guides the seal might help keep down oil consumption.

Valve stem seals. They were not installed on 914s; some manuals show them but that is from the VW application. I don't think later VWs used them either. I'm not sure why they were omitted, probably either because they actively caused problems or because they didn't help any and it cost more money to install them.

...But that's just a guess...

--DD