Originally Posted by Justin_Luhrs

If your rings are passing oil as a result of an overheat... your heads are almost assuredly warped.

Rings are steel, and lose spring much less quickly than the time it takes to warp your aluminum heads. If the steel bought it, the aluminum did too.

If they are passing oil due to age, well, the check procedure is the same anyway.

Check your head carefully with a steel rule at all angles across the sealing surface. If you can see a discrepancy, it really needs to go to the shop. If not, it probably still needs to go to the shop, but your labor is cheaper than theirs, and if it is too warped, the new gasket will just leak or blow again. Head gaskets not very expensive. Another thing to remember, is that your head bolts stretch (regardless of if they have stretch designed into them) and should be replaced and torqued in exactly the manner prescribed with your new gasket.

At so many miles you will need valves and guides with your dye and grind. Not cheap.

I still have my first car, it's on its third engine and has 240K miles. But I can let it sit for 2 months, get in and tap the gas twice and she starts right up.
I sympathize with your wish to keep the car, if you decide you want to do so, I'd follow the advice you see here. Get the block checked or buy the tools to check it, it's easy to do (and you can never go wrong buying tools), and get the head fully redone at a good shop. You'll smile everytime she manages to start I'm sure.