[JimmyKman]

Call off the search! Thanks, everyone, for your help. I will save all of the tips and advice for future reference. As it turns out, the problem was indeed low compression, as well as low vacuum. The compression checker was cheap/faulty and when we put a gtood one on, it was obvious; cylinders 1,3 and 4 cranked at 120-130PSI and #2 cranked at 110PSI. The previous owner had the wrong plugs installed. They were too long and the piston most have collided with it because there was no ceramic left; not burned, just completely missing. The debris must have gotten into the cylinder and rings and scored things up pretty bad. This 2.0 SOHC engine is toast. Unless anyone knows of a cheap fix, I can drive it around indefinitely, but it will always give me trouble on hard accelleration and uphill climbs.