Found this one..... it wound up being the exhaust bracket under the motor....
Went with Cometic gaskets .030 thickness... IIRC the stocks are .045...
With continued use, the bike is approaching 30K, and other than the funky noises it made before (piston slap) and the occasional noise from the adjustable pushrods contacting the tubes all seems to be well. The Woods "directional" lifters seem to be enduring me OK for now.
Cams make perfect, usable power, as does the 30T/139 Belt/sprocket combo... everything is in the "zone" where the bike is fun to ride again.
I do think there is oil consumption.. and I may go with a set of jugs/pistons to fix this shortly.... as well as a set of ported heads and potentially bigger cams... but thats the life of a hotrodder.