So here are my latest troubles in paradise. I bought some "spark plug non-foulers" from autozone for the explorer and was able to hook up the leak down tester hose to the spark plug hole.
Testing about 4-5 cylinders, most of them were at about 50% loss and I think they all had air coming out of the Intake runner. (I haven the intake manifolds off) I did make sure that I was on the compression stroke and at TDC. When the hose was hooked up to the cylinder, I rotated the crank until air came out of the hose, then on to TDC from there. The most input PSI I could get, for some reason, was about 65-70, though at the compressor it showed 100. The output from the cylinder would show 30-45psi. Only the first cylinder had decent numbers, the rest, I could feel the air gushing from the intake runners. I plan to re-do the test and actually write down the readings on all cylinders, but that first crack at it didn't look good.
Doing some research, people suggest these readings could be because the valve could be burnt, bent, or the timing is off. Now I did get these heads of marketplace, but they were advertised as bolt-on and go.
I rebuilt the heads as you recall myself, cleaning the valves and lapping them. Springs are the TFS stronger springs as well. Although the lifter preload is set, I still don't have oil in the engine, so the lifters aren't keeping the valves open. Obviously, none of the valves looked bent visually, or I would have caught it. There was no damage to the valves either. Although I don't think I took a picture of the timing chain I put on (new), I do recall making sure the timing marks lined up. During the leak down test, the long bar on the crank did try to move and I had to hold it-- so there is compression.
What are the chances both heads have issues with valves not sealing, especially intake. Also, I tried turning the engine over by hand, at low psi, to see if the air in the intake runner would stop hissing and seal (i.e. timing is off) and there was no point when it'd seal.
Any idea what's wrong?