I'll try and get over to my father's this weekend to do a compression test.

It doesn't burn oil, but there's far too much blow-by (the source of which definitely isn't blocked-up PCV, as I clean that little joint and associated hoses and connections almost every time I'm under the hood, and the oil separator is recently cleaned), and a pretty severe oil leak that I haven't been able to locate.

I just found a head on ebay that was recently pressure-tested; it comes with a cam and recently-done valves, as well as the cam seals and valve stem seals, which I was planning on replacing anyway. It might be worth my while to just get the head and save myself some time. It's pretty cheap, at the moment.

You're right about the work involved in replacing the engine--but the only thing is, I'm concerned about the wear-and-tear on the current engine due to the oil loss. I try to keep it topped up but occasionally I'll get the flashing light...not to mention the water in the oil that I found before. It runs decently enough, but I'm concerned about internal wear.