You can only answer that with a scan for knock retard.

So I started these projects and got down to replacing the springs and valve locks and my number 1 and 2 cylinder can't keep enough air behind the valve to keep it up. All the other cylinders are fine with very little leak by. Now I'm in to pulling the heads off the car and hoping there isn't anything wrong with the piston bore or piston while I'm in there.

Is there air leaking by the valve seals? If you've ruled that out, then it'* probably time to pull the heads.

Yes, I am putting air through the spark plug and it is coming out the runners in the head. Would that be the intake valve leaking?

Use a small amount of soapy water around the valves. It will help you find which valve and where it'* coming from. I suspect a valve seal and if that'* it, you don't need to pull the head to replace it.

http://s963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/SSEI-Ei-O/


Here are the pics

So where the springs are on top of the valve, just put some soapy water around them?

At the base of the spring where the valve seal is at. Just do it on the two where you can't keep air in the cylinder. Also, for that same cylinder, manually bring it up to TDC.

while the compressed air is running through the spark plug hole? So using it as like a leak detector? Sorry, I'm not that knowledgeable on cars. How do you manually bring it to top dead center, and how will i know? Thank you for your help by the way.

Yep...while air is running through the spark plug whole, use the soapy water to check for leaks at the valve seats.

You need to put a wrench and a long bar on the crank bolt and turn the crank until you hit TDC on the piston you are checking. You can verify as close to possible that you are at TDC, when the intake valve closes for that cylinder.