So i just got done the other day putting my car back together after a bent valve(one intake and one exhaust on cyl 1). I used a head from a differant engine i had sitting around. Now the car will start and run but sounds terrible and cyl 4 has no compression. The head gasket and head bolts were new and torqued down to FSM spec. I also cleaned the surfaces off with those 3M rotaty pads...the ones that are alumenium safe. I am going to take the rockers off of cyl 4 and see if i can get a reading then. Does anyone have any ideas or ever had a similar situation?

Yea I popped like 6 rockers off my motor. Fred Casey took the car, ripped apart the motor and tried to salvage what he could. he put it back together and it ran like crap. He ended up dropping another SR20 in *** this one was passed simple repair.

Yeah i would rather not have to put a new engine in if possible. I think i have deduced it down to a valve problem. Judging from the way the vacuum gauge bounces around at idle. Could using a valve shim that is too thick not let the valve close and seat all the way since the lifters are hydraulic?

I did a cylinder leakdown on it and in order from cyl 1-4 it had 10%,20%,20%,80%. I couldnt pinpoint where the air was escaping from on cyl 4. I even had the intake manifold off to get right there and feel but there was nothing, and there was no bubbling in the coolant.