Doing a valve job on a 32V engine is an absolute WHORE of a job, but if you think it's valves you could do that...
And toss in a set of CHRF springs for a little insurance against the 3-2 upshift.

I looked at ebay and will continue to do so. I even asked Alan at chrfab if he had any used 4.6's for sale and he did not. I did send Ronnie a PM but I doubt if he would be willing to sell his engines for the money I have right now. I will have to save up for several months to even get close.

Thanks dohcfiend,

As it turns out the IRL engines don't have any interchangable parts with the regular 4.0L N*. Your right about some of the parts fitting on the 4.6L N*. That is why I am going to look for a 4.6 so that I will get more power and not have to change any of the fabrication done so far.

Hi Will,

I told Alan that if he could sell me a used engine I would have him put the springs and retainers in but I guess all of his used engines are apart for a full rebuild. I am pretty sure that my #8 cyl has blow by because both of the valve stems have alot of oil/carbon on them. It was able to pump up to 70psi but then you could here a hiss every time the compression stroke came around. If it where only one oily valve stem I would think it might be a leaky valve. So I am thinking it is the bottom end. If it were a 4.6 I would consider rebuilding it.

Can you tell where the "hiss" is coming from? If it seems to come from the throttle body it's an intake valveproblem. if the hiss comes from the exaust manifold it's an exaust valve. If you can't tell, it could also be a head gasket that has blown out the side (but unlikely).
I seriously doubt that it's a ring seal problem, but if you pour a tablespoon of oil onto the offending cylinder and do another comp test you'll know. if the compression goes up with the oil in there you have a ring problem. if the comp number stays about the same you have a valve problem (or a hole in a piston perhaps).

The valve may just have some carbon deposits holding a valve open a bit. that can happen from an engine sitting for a wile. (moisture swells and loosens the carbon in the combustion chamber). if that's the case it may be curable without pulling the head.

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000002/HTML/20040223-1-031777.html

.....or...... you may just find a chunk of carbon holding open a valve. ....or..... stick a screwdriver in there and see if you can feel the piston

the reason i suspect that the cylinder is bad and not the head is that all the other exhaust valve stems are clean and have a uniform brown tint to them. both #8 cylinder exhaust valve stems are equally covered with a thick coating of oil/carbon which if nothing else indicates to me that this engine was removed for smoking out the pipe and possibly using oil. you are right however in that there is enough carbon gunk that it could be holding the valve open. my main concern is why all the oil residue? what i will do to see if it helps is to get a static compression checker and try to determine where the problem is. i wish i had access to a boroscope. Will, i may take the head off but then i would have to timesert the block and to be honest i can't see spending the time or money on this engine when the 4.6's are much more available and a stronger running engine. can you tell me about how much you had to spend on a head gasket and timeserts? also how difficult was setting the cam gear alignment? did you need special tools?

Russ544,

to be honest i could not tell where the hiss was comming from. there is no intake or exhaust on the engine right now so I will try it again and see if i can figure that one out. this really does look like a low time engine so i am wondering if there is any chance this one cylinder would improve over time... gotta find a boroscope somewhere...

thanks for the support guys.

OD or ID?