I believe that the reason for the bypass was to protect the engine in the event of a plugged oil filter or crimped cooler line. If that situation occurred then it would simply bypass the cooler/oil system and still lubricate the engine. Your system would not do that. Rather the oil would just dump through the filler/breather tube back into the pan, doing nothing for the bearings.
Is there any chance your filter or cooler lines are partially blocked? Can you get a mechanical oil gauge on the return side, just before the engine, and confirm what the oil pressure is coming back into the engine?
80 psi at the relief would indicate to me that there is a flow problem either coming back to the engine. The flatheads generally would not generate that much pressure.
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