Evening 3: Compression test

We had been a bit nervous about the engine, since it was built by the previous owner, as opposed to a professional shop. He seemed legit, and said that he had been quite careful about everything, but you never know.
We decided to do a compression test to make sure all the valves & piston seals were good.

Remove battery, intake, washer fluid reservoir, disconnect fuel relay & ignition fuse, then fish a ratchet down between the heads & frame rails.. Boxers may be great for weight distribution, but they don't make head work any easier.

With the coil packs removed after some minor acrobatics, we cleaned the ports a little then pulled the spark plugs. All the threads were happy, and the 2 steps colder plugs were all in the tan range. Good signs!

We fed the compression tester hose into the spark plug fitting blindly, and managed to not cross thread anything. Reconnected the intake & battery, then came the moment of truth.

Gave the car a short turn of the ignition, paused to make sure we didn't have fuel spraying everywhere, then continued cranking until we had a stable reading on the gauge.

Cyl 1: 140 PSI
Cyl 2: 135 PSI
Cyl 3: 135 PSI
Cyl 4: 140 PSI

.. A happy healthy engine, we were rather relieved that there couldn't be anything too substantial to deal with down the road to fix the occasional CEL on Cyl 1 misfires.

Next up, the rest of the interior. For now, time for some homebrewed beer & to find something for dinner.