Ron, I know the feeling on some of your list. I scorched off my ceramic coating too, by running for about 15 minutes with the timing too retarded. Thats all it took.
My valve cover breathers were kicking out
oil until two things happened...1) is I went to upgraded roller rockers that limited the deluge of
oil to the top of the engine and 2), I changed valve covers to ones that happened to have the
oil breather located more in the middle of the cover vs. the rear....where all the oil runs to when you accelerate.