Not a good idea to eliminate the squirter grooves, SBC's eat cams quick enough with 'em!
The oil burner problem, wow, 30 miles to a quart, that's some serious consumption! Sure it's not leaking? It must smoke like a Bingo hall full of little old purple-haired ladies! Some thoughts...Manifold leak sucking oil from the valley, I had that problem on a 318.
Do a leakdown test, no special equipment needed, just thread an air hose fitting directly into the plug hole and listen for air leaks.
The grease thing, well, it isn't the best stuff for the job, but it shouldn't cause your problem unless it carbons up the rings on startup , that would have been obvious on teardown.
How does it run otherwise?