I've been trying to pinpoint this problem that has happened after doing my head and cam swap. my #4 cylinder does not appear to be producing any power at all. I can tell this because all but the #4 cylinder primary on my headers have had the paint burnt off them. The primary is cold (relatively to the other pipes) and the plug doesn't seem to have any ash deposits on it or smell of fuel. Initially tested the ignition system, but the cylinder is getting a spark so that's not an option. I then concluded it was a bad fuel injector because I didn't smell any fuel on the plug when it was out. I replaced all the injectors with a new set of LT1 injectors (to match the build better as well as rule out injectors as an issue) and although the car responded better, but still the #4 primary isn't hot and paint isn't burning off. I changed my oil (from the break in period) and noticed it was sort of a translucent brown, and smelled a little like fuel, but it was very oily. My friend suggested it was the break in lube, and I am guessing it might be, cause another 20-30 miles on the new oil (longer run time than the cam) and the oil (mobil 1) looks just like it should. there was also no oil in the antifreeze so I am thinking its not a blown head gasket. I am yet to do a compression test as I am busy with school, but I am going to have more results before I can make a judgement. IF the compression test turns out that all the cylinders are precise and there is no dead cylinder, what else could be causing this? Oil pressure and engine temperature are all normal, however, my idle acts up, and that appears to be a completely different story. My cars been very tempermental after getting this swap taken car of. it's a rather simple swap, ZZ9 cam, Motown 220 heads (yeah I know they are big, theres a reason for it), true duals, and modified TPI which will soon be replaced with a Stealth Ram. When it was running right (as right as it could be) it had very noticeable power, and burned the tires with ease. But more often its been running odd. no codes getting thrown either... it's really getting on my nerves because I need this damned car to be 100% (or at least 90%) reliable because I've gotta drive it 100 miles to my university then daily 10 miles from my apartment to my classes.

welcome to the forum, sorry im not much help but i did blow a head gasket recently and i didnt have any oil in the coolant either. Instead i had a ton of coolant in the oil.My oil looked light brown and had the milkshake like look to it. Do you smell coolant? Maybe the head gasket is leaking into that cyl? Good luck with it and im sure someone else will give you some ideas also.

see that's the thing, I didn't have any coolant being burned either. the oil isn't showing any signs of this now. The head gaskets are brand new and the car hasn't been run hard so I don't know how the gasket could've blown :-( if it IS a blown head gasket, it'll take a weekend to fix. if it's something else I am going to be really pissed!

Well lets hope its something simple. Mine turned out to be a head gasket and a leaking intake, turned out the prev owner or whoever did the drivers side head didnt know what a torque wrench was .The intake bolts could be loosend with one hand! Wish i could help more. goodluck again.

I modified my intake manifold to accept an 86-down style heads I've got... I drilled it out and made sure everything sealed.. at least i thought I did... you think this could cause it??? I know my heads are torqued down to spec.

my guess is you have the valves out of adjustment on the dead hole or maybe a push rod problem

I really hope its simple, I've heard valves from a few other sources, so I am going to address that issue. first thing is a compression test!

if that cylinder's cold, and it's getting fuel, and spark.... it's air it's not moving.
pop the valve cover off and check to see if the vavles are operating properly... roll the engine around and check the vavle lift. if you have a noid ligth.. use that to make sure the pulse is coming to the injector.

Pull the 4 plug, kill spark, turn it over and make sure you can smell gas coming out of the chamber