53 brings back memories.
our first car was a 53 4 door I had to share with a twin brother. My older brother was in the hospital for a year from a gas explosion in a house his crew had just finished varnishing the new hardwood floors. My sister in law needed a car and the new 53 was the cheapest car in town . IT GOT VERY LITTLE MAINTENANCE. i THINK SHE JUST HAD THE GAS STATION ADD A QUART WHEN IT WAS LOW. BACK IN THE DAY WHEN THEY WERE SERVICE STATRIONS/ . check your oil, pump the gas, check the tires, wash your windshield. etc,
It sounded like a sewing machine, the tips of the rocker arms had groves where they had worn on the valve stems. some shops had a resurface tool for a grinder but my brother- in-law showed us how to carefully use a bench grinder, and resurface them . after resurfacing them you could use a feeler gage and get an acurate setting, There is an oil supply hole down thru the head and block that would plug up. when the rockers are off I would run a gas welding rod down to try the get the gunk out. WE ended up splitting the exhaust manifold. There is no sound like a 6 with a split manifold. Later added a set of GMC big truck high lift rockers and GMC carb. I would sand on a panel each day when working on the farm waiting for the water to run down the rows in a grain field.
a few minuts here and then later and after it was all feathered out shoot primer with a pint jar sprayer that came with mothers hoover vacuum cleaner, LOTS of orange peel, but I had a lot of wait time to wet sand it smooth .