show a lot of smoke. Sounds like valve problem to me, can he not use feeler gauge to check piston to side wall clearance? Nothing personal but this guy sounds kind of slow for mechanic. he should have known or at least eliminated something before snatching head. the valves may seat ok with head off but do they open and close at proper times??? who knows know that head is off. Sounds to me like you have a pretty lame ass mechanic. only a few things can cuase compression loss. Good mechanic would be able to tell you by this point what it was for sure.
