Hey Hitman. Yeah, I'm familiar with that type oil usage. When just a baby, mine used oil on the highway when the revs were up. It used MUCH less around town. Seems there is so much oil pumped up to the head at high rpm's that it can't drain back quickly enough, and floods the area around the valve stem seals. At 255k, if it's on original valve guides, then just new seals may not help much; those valves are probably flopping around like bobble-dolls. Pop that baby off and see the local machine shop for a valve job.

I bet you could use an earlier head, but I certainly don't know for sure.
My car is not here today, so going from memory:
All the 103 engines in my engine manual had 9.2 compression.
I think all the sensor fittings are on the intake manifold, not the head flange? But I think the AIR pump actually pumps into passages in the head? So, that might be an issue.

DG