I'm the guy that thought I could replace the valves as is without cutting the seats

I WAS WRONG!!!!!!

After doing some exploratory I found

The push rods are dished, the valves are worn, the pistons are loose in the bore and cylinders are out of round about 0.003 to 0.004. I have no idea how the bottom end is but considering the condition of the top it can’t be good.

Push rods look like they were machined that way

I'm going to put it back together until I can afford to have it bored out and rebuilt. It ran before it will run again
But it proves that checking the compression is not enough. I had an average of 48 psi and a steady vacuum.

Peter
The lifters wore that way!!
Just add new lifters (maybe adjustable ) to the eventual rebuild shopping list!!

I would like to say they were NOT made that way but looking at the outer edge looks like someone in the past may have done some work on them instead of grinding the valve stem to fit.
The should be flat across the top, no dish.
As it is the only way to adjust your valves is by piston travel method. Look it up.

Put reconditioning the camshaft on your to do list. Timing valves by measuring piston travel is best given the wear shown. Often a motor won't even run when valves are set to tappet clearance with a camshaft worn out of the correct profile.