The common theme seems to point to the rings not seating (or too much crankcase pressure). I've heard the idea of evacuating the pressure out of the crankcase by quite a few people, soooo, I'm led to believe this is probably the place to start. I may go ahead the try a regular intake to see if a naturally aspurated setup changes anything. I'll also check those intake gaskets for proper sealing again (although the original "crush" looked good around the lip...the heads don't have an exhaust pass through). And if I can find an old vacuum pump, I may just try that to get the crankcase pressure down...at least to see if is actually blow by. I've heard of the gapless rings, but I'm not sure that would prevent this much oil from being lost. If it's really blow-by, then I've got to do something to get those rings seated.

Anyone got a vacuum pump setup for sale?

By the way, thanks for all of your advice and suggestions! Any other opinions or experience is welcome.

tj