Head gasket recently replaced. Can I do a compression check beforeinstallingmanifolds
 

Well I sure would hate to have to resassemble every part only to disassemble and pull the head off due to a leaky cylinder. I did a compression test with the fuel pump cut off and no manifolds installed on the car and the compression was all over the place. 2 being 140 psi, 1 being 60, 3 being 90 and 4 being hardly nothing. Something tells me i'm going to be sending this head off for machining and letting my mechanic put this head gasket on because I don't know if its sealing. Well fuck, I might as well buy a new head gasket now since I fucked this one up...

do what now. i just did mine on my 99. i used crap ass gaskets not metal ones. i had to shave it .037 and used a .020 shim and 2 HG's. you should deff use ARP head bolts like i did. i was going to use some copper spray but i decided not too and everything is great. as long as its flat and use some coper spray and you should be golden
i would say DO NOT USE THE STOCK HEAD BOLTS AGAIN

Do you have the timing belt installed? It sounds like you don't.

Easier to do a leakdown test.

If the timing belt isn't on the car, you can spin the cams to close the valves in the cylinder you're testing, instead of turning the whole engine.

Yes the car has the timing belt installed. I will do a leakdown test.

No manifolds is no problem, and my first guess would have been the timing belt too.

What hardware did you use/replace?

?cody? give it a few more rpm and make sure your shit is timed correctly. If everything is right it sounds like you might have some warpage or uneven sealing. Going on here.