What a cool car! I will never forget it. My "Direct Connection" was Quaden Dodge. Those guys were awesome! John, Jerry, Speedball etc. Jerry and Speedy had some fast stuff way back then.
When you have the valve cover off check for rocker arm to valve spring retainer clearance. That would make metal similar to what you are seeing. Otherwise something terrible is happening with the thrust bearing. Check the crank movement fore/aft. Did you install the transmission/tourqe...
A big problem is people place their standard of living before their morals in this era. That said I am guilty of shopping HF ( transmission jack, etc) only because it was available to me locally. Below is a good example of the disproportion of manufacturing costs if you totally ignore quality...
There is a gutter or drain channel in the 1/4 glass area of our 66 coronet convertible. It directs water forward towards the rear drain. Your fury should have something similar.
My machinist had me measure the cam bores and remove material from the outside of the cam bearings for the tight journals . That is how I do them now. All you can do once they are in stalled is scrape away carefully.
You can come check it out tomorrow if you want. Good thing to do on a rainy Sunday. Man I'd hate for you to sell that car I was admiring it outside of the quicky mart on Vilas and Table Rock around lunch time a few months back. What a great car to see running around town.
Also once it is...
I bet I know who built that!
I have a) a 500hp/500tq 451 pump gas engine (built by Cab Burge, dyno'd at Lindvig's that I would sell. It is fresh carb to pan. 5k but we might be able to have you reuse some of your ignition etc.
Option b) I have a bare, virgin 400 block ready to be magnifluxed...