I was told after my leak-down test that cyl#4 had a small leak and the exhaust valves were cooked. sorry the pics are dark ($20 camera) Any opinions?

 

Your pictures show cylinder 1, not 4. 4 is at the firewall end of the head. #1 exhaust port is oily it may have a leaking valve stem seal. That will not effect valve seal. You need to find a machine shop that can correctly grind the valve seats and valves.

Throw away the Bosch platinum +4's

 

I'm gonna have laskey redo the whole engine. Btw, nice pickup on the plugs. Anything else I should be doing?

 

Let them go through it. They should let you know what parts are needed for the head.

 

Yea I just don't want to be paying for things that don't necessarily need replacing...I had a couple of other questions. The best fuel I can purchase around Cedar Falls, Iowa is 92 octane. Should I go all the way down to 9:1 for 12-15lbs of boost? Or would it still be safe to go higher than that for a DD application? Oh and what NGK plugs should I be getting?

 

You should be fine at that boost on 92 octane but you dont have to go to 9:1 cr, 9.5:1 would be fine too.

Go with the NGK BKRe8ix (I think thats it) number 2668, the iridium plugs.

 

Is there really that much of a difference between the two?

 

You talking about the 9:1 and 9.5:1 cr? If so, there would be a little bit of difference but not anything like the difference between 9:1 and 10:1 cr. I believe that 9.5:1 cr works better for turbo spool up and helps with a little added tq and it still is in a safe area for detonation resistance. I just prefer 9.5:1 cr but thats just my opinion.

 

Iowa should have plenty of E85. We do in Omaha.

That is always an option. How much power are you looking for?

 

350-400, but I live in Allison, Iowa. I would be using half a tank of gas to get to and my injectors are just the rc 550's. I'm sure they are already maxed out with 12-15 lbs of boost. Expensive upgrade too.