Ok, so my brother-in-law has been working on a customer's car(a '97 Sportage) for about the past month-The car came in not running, so he had the head rebuilt-this is, by far, not the first engine they have built, but it is the first Kia-they are having nothing but problems-they have checked just about everything that they can think of, but to no avail. They sent the car to another mechanic(he's the "master" mechanic around here) who had it for more than a week(& has all the expensive machines) & can not figure out the problem. They can get the car to start, but it has no power-they put the car on time, but the car is only running on 2 cylinders-they know this because they have taken the head off(the one that was rebuilt) to get it double checked(& it's fine). Basically, looking for some more possible ideas/places to double check. I check on the internet to see if I can find any info, but all I come across is "don't buy a kia"-lol. If a Kia mechanic has any ideas, I'm sure my brother-in-law would love to talk to you...he has wasted a lot of time & money on this car-he's about ready to buy another engine because he's sooooo frustrated. Thanks for any help.

Forgot to mention, it's a 2.0L, auto 4x4-thanks again

CHeck timing belt using this:
www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/TimingBelt.zip
Timing gears on cams both carry the I and E marks, and confusion can exist in installing belt.
Once this issue is cleared for sure, then the ignition issue can be investigated. COil packs are fragile items and oil leaks to rear coil pack is a known source of problems. More on this
HERE (www.4x4wire.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=653021)

Are some details available about why the head was reworked in the first place ? AND by the way, the little car has its idiosyncrasies, ...but it is a real fun to drive...but forget the drag strip..a little bit out of step with all the corral you mention......

I'm not too sure what was wrong w/it before the customer brought it to their shop. They've had the car lined up-but it had no power. That's why they sent it away to the other mechanic-who's is still scratching his head. That mechanic checked it w/a lab scope & nothing pulled up-so he suggested it to double check the rebuilt head-so he took the head to 2 different machine shops to have it pressure checked & it came out fine-at the 2nd machine shop, though, the guy said that there's a defect on some Kia's where the cam may be off a tooth-he said it came like that from the factory. So today he was trying that-& that's why I'm here, because it didn't work. To get all the info, it'd probably be better to talk to my brother-in-law...if anyone's willing to troubleshoot over the phone, PM me. Thanks for the info.

I'm not too sure what was wrong w/it before the customer brought it to their shop. They've had the car lined up-but it had no power. That's why they sent it away to the other mechanic-who's is still scratching his head. That mechanic checked it w/a lab scope & nothing pulled up-so he suggested it to double check the rebuilt head-so he took the head to 2 different machine shops to have it pressure checked & it came out fine-at the 2nd machine shop, though, the guy said that there's a defect on some Kia's where the cam may be off a tooth-he said it came like that from the factory. So today he was trying that-& that's why I'm here, because it didn't work. To get all the info, it'd probably be better to talk to my brother-in-law...if anyone's willing to troubleshoot over the phone, PM me. Thanks for the info.

Here is something to check. Remove the crank pulley and see if the keyway is still intact. I have seen them rust away and cause the car to run poorly even though the crank pulley is lined up correctly. The crank itself is still out of time.

Seen this on several 97-99 Sportages.

Also you may be 180 off due to the cam pulleys being incorrectly installed. You may want to check this also.