Compression guage broke in the middle of testing it, So I was just making sure it wasn't something blatenly obvious that was a wrong set up while I was getting another guage, just didn't make sense that the compression could be that low and it run as strong as it did (even if it was 5-7 minutes at a time). Got a new guage and retested it last night. It's ****ed. Motor coming back out next week when I have time.....

Please post what the problem is when you find out. There has been so much conjecture on what the problem is, and it might be helpful for someone else building a motor to know what caused the problem, to they can avoid doing the same thing.

I built a 400 SBC many years ago when I was about 20 - first attempt at building an engine from scratch. I had similar issues with lack of power and oil control. When I busted it down, we found that the rings were worn like a 150K mile engine. Turns out the knucklehead who honed it used a much too aggressive stone for moly rings. What he used would have been suitable for chrome rings, but they just filed the moly ones down to nothing. Found someone who knew what they were doing to re-hone the block, and my problems were solved. Not saying that's your problem, but the symptoms sound similar. good luck with it.

Just in case anyone was still following this, I wanted to give it the update so everyone would know what the problem was... Took a little longer then I thought to get the engine pulled and tore apart cause of lack of time, but here it is... Those pretty little CMI sport tube headers leaked internally and wiped out the rings completely. I had the headers tested TWICE before I installed them and they checked out good, but I guess it was just one of those f-ed up situations where they just picked the the right time to take a crap, cause I tested them now and sure as **** they are leaking! Also after talking to a few other REAL machinist, it turns out that the machinist that I had do the work on the block and heads did a BS job on honing the cylinder walls, so I just had the block re-honed (it looks way better now) and grabbed some new rings. And as you can imagine, those custom bad ass heads are totally trashed now. I'm damn near out of time and money now though, so I just put my good springs on my old PP heads so I can still run my aftermarket cam, throw the old manifolds on and that will have to get me through the season. Sucks ass but I just wanna get back on the water, I'll get a real set of heads for next year. So there it is. Leaking headers and bad machine work = "how to kill a new motor on one weekend". Live and learn. I'll be staying at the shop late this week to put the motor back together and probably put it in the boat sunday.

Thanks for the follow up, always like to know the problem is solved and how. Get back on the water and try again next year Good luck!!