Should I drive my car? Low compression

[MR.chris]

I did a compression a while back and had 120psi on all cylinders. The car runs fine and a few guys that I talked to said dont worry cause the psi is the same on all cylinders. My question is how safe is it to drive my SR without doing more damage?

[Seishuku]

Is that 120PSI cold, or with the engine up to temp? If it's a hot test, then yea it's at the low end of the service limit, but if it's cold, then that's pretty good.
But yes, even pressure across the cylinders indicates that there isn't any leakage between and none are more worn than the other.
It's safe though, either way.

[MR.chris]

Right now I have the boost set at 7psi but I would like to turn it up a lot more. Do you think my engine can handle it?

[Seishuku]

Well, if it's low compression from worn rings, then running boost will only cause blow-by, it shouldn't make things worse.
I think it would be ok though.

[OM3GA]

Was the test done cold? I would drive it for awhile without boosting a ton more and see what happens. I am curious if it is your HG going or if it is the rings. Have you been driving this and this is the first time you have done a compression test just out of curiousity or is this a fresh swap that you compression tested?

[MR.chris]

The test was done with the engine warm. I did a test with the engine cold(it was about 32 deg outside) and I had 90psi accross all cylinders!!! This a new swap for me and the guy I bought the motor from just put a fully built head on with a new metal HG. He told me that the motor only had 2000 miles on it since he replaced the head. The car seems to run fine though.I just need to fix a leaky injector.

[compactfean]

Did you do the compression test with throttle body open or closed? Closed will give you low numbers