Thanks for the replies. See below:
- was engine cold, warm, or hot
I warmed up the car to operating temp for a few minutes and shut it off.
- was pressure gauge calibrated for accuracy
This was bought new at Harbor Freight Tools. The instructions do not mention any kind of calibration procedure.
- was throttle body air plate wide open or closed
Wide open
- was battery on a charger during the testing, or at a minimum of 12.6V throughout the process
Brand new battery, has had the car running for about 15 minutes total. I neglected to test the voltage or keep it charged.
- was the engine turned over long enough to ensure the gauge was at the peak pressure
Yes, I believe so. It was about 6 seconds per cylinder, I would guess if I had to. I waited for the needle to maintain the highest number achieved for a couple cranks or so to ensure it would not go any higher before signaling to disengage the starter.
- was the compression tester seated tightly in the spark plug hole with a good o-ring to prevent pressure loss
I would say yes to this as well. Brand new tool and o-ring and I tightened it by hand but pretty good.
-Are all the cluster warning lights working properly (coming on briefly at startup) and do any come on while driving?
They work upon startup, but I haven't driven the car much yet, so it's hard to answer the second question. I still have to replace & bleed the brakes and do a coolant flush (only distilled water in there now) before I can really test drive it. My driveway is at the top of a hill, so I want to be sure it sounds like an actual car that runs before I end up getting stuck with a dead car at the bottom. It will idle sort of all right -- it was ok sitting there warming up to operating temp for the compression check -- but the gas pedal doesn't do much even though the throttle is fully opening.
I also just realized I'm missing the alternator grounding strap yesterday. Not sure how big an effect on running that has, but I'll make one up and test it out again. Also waiting on a heater hose that ended up leaking after being removed and replaced. Also going to order a boost/vac gauge to check for possible low vacuum at idle. Also open to other ideas. Thanks for the input!