I will posit my opinion on head gaskets, camshafts and rocker arm assemblies.
Originally, the head gaskets were copper clad and that is what I used for 44 years. Insisted on it, right up to the point I had a failure in 2021. I had used a new, but old stock Victor copper clad gasket. the copper cladding failed just enough to allow a little combustion into the cooling system, enough to cause the motor to always run hot, over 190 even on a cool day. I have a stash of these old copper clad gaskets but I am not 20 any more and muscling these heads on and off by myself is not the easy task it once was. So I decided to go with a fresh Felpro Blue head gasket. Worked perfect. So rather then beat the bushes for a copper clad gasket, go with a new fresh Flepro Blue head gasket.
Camshafts, new cores have been diabolically difficult to come by the last couple of years. That being said, there seems to be a real problem with new manufactured flat tappet cams and lifters failing. I think its a combination of less then adequate metallurgy and less that adequate machining. The stock original cams have CWC (Campbell Wyant and Cannon) and maybe CMC (Camshaft Machine Corp) cast on the cam. CWC cast the cam blank and CMC machined it. The cams had excellent metallurgy. So send your stock cam out to a experienced cam grinder and have the original cam reground. I have used Schneider Racing Cams in San Diego for a couple of decades now (they can do a stock grind to a race grind). Be forewarned, the word has gotten around that they can regrind our six cams so they have been on a roll recently with our cams, lol. Excellent workmanship though.
Rocker Arms, if yours are in decent shape, not loose and not wearing into the shaft, then you might just need some cleaning. But if the adjuster balls are not balls any longer, or the rockers have really dug into the shafts, put a few dollars aside and send the entire assembly to Rocker Arms Unlimited in California. They are the only outfit rebuilding these style rockers and they have the ability to re-hard chrome the shafts and get the rockers in to the correct specification. Its a small thing, not exactly inexpensive, but all the small things are cumulative to getting a good running motor.
Will Schneider regrind lifters as well?
