All this sounds familiar.
When I first purchased my car it smoked a tadd on deceleration.
At that time it had just over 60K on it, but I didnt know the condition of the engine.
I replaced the valve seals, reground the valves, pulled the pan and checked the bearings, checked the cyl bore diameters and checked the oil pump gears/shafts.
The bores were good, so I gave them a light hone and removed the carbon ridge at the cyl tops. The piston skirts had minimal wear on them and the oil pump clearances were in spec.
Since std rings and bearings were cheap, I replaced them and drove the car hard for the next 60k.
Oh, I also replaced the timing chain and tensioner.
When the engine started to give a hint of smoking again I decided to freshen the engine, tranny and head at 120k.
Collected the necessary parts over the winter had her rebuilt for this spring.
Nice to have a fresh engine to break in.
Next year I can let the throttle out again and try to enjoy at least another 120k worth of roadstering.
If you're doing an off frame, I would recommend also doing the engine.
Placed some pics in the forum project album to show what went in.
Happy Re-building
Ray B.