Ray,
I sure hope it is not the head gasket. Your rig is just being broken in @ 1150 hrs

, Have seen several 1700 with close to 4000 hrs on the meter. $160 is totally outrageous. Price out total overhaul gasket, that might come out cheaper , you never know. I do a bit of research too. Taking the valve cover off should take no more than 5 minutes, may be you see some sign when you do that. Since you don't have overhead cam on 1700 it really makes the job quite more manageable. Now this is a suggestion and perhaps I get some negative comment about it which is fine. When I was in college I had a 1977 buick skylark and it started to leak ever so slight amount of antifreeze from heater core. It was very difficult to change out the core due to having lack of tools and experience. A part shop guy suggested to me to use some " stop leak" in the radiator. I followed his suggestion, put he stuff in, ran the car for an hr or so driving around and it got hot enough and sealed the tiny leak. I then replace the whole coolant. That never leaked for another 15-20 years before I sold the car. If you indeed have a small leak that might be a cure. Again, if you have not overheated the engine then I would really look hard to eliminate all other potentials. Milky oil in the crankcase is a good indicator. Engine oil in the coolant is another one. At the end valve lash adjustment is not a big deal even if you have never done it. Good luck.
JC,