Air coming through the valve cover

Blow-by. That is, compression leaking past the piston rings. At 1000 miles it's possible that the rings haven't seated yet, but I've never had it take anywhere close to that long. What pistons and rings were used in the rebuild? Wall clearance, end gap etc...
Agreed, sounds like blow by compressing the crankcase. I had a similar problem after overheating my 318.