Glowing Headers

[buckva73]

Give you guys a little update. I went out and bought a universal wire kit today. I figured that if I build them then I can blame me. Didn't look at the spark plug ends until I got home and they are straight. My plugs come out on an angle and you can do the math from there. Thank goodness only one plug wire is close to the header and I can make that work. On a bright note, the disco(old people)/rave(young people) under the hood stopped. Because the wire is so close, I didn't want to run it that long until I have a protector on the ends. I did run it long enough that under last nights condition, the headers would of started to glow. Tonight, it did not start. Mark; I happened to buy one today to see what the temps were and the little bit I let it run they were all around 300F. I am going to check the exhaust the way you said just to see. It is not a restricted system by any way but it is hard to hear under the truck because it has a 3" dump on it right now. To answer your question about where it started, yes, at the collector and worked its way up. Paul; all 8 were about the same. Yes I did use #1 pass front. It is the stock cam. I have a .750lift 112lsa solid lifter cam in a 347 that I can put in but I think its a little over kill. I did think about the valves staying open but did not head down that path yet. They are stock rockers but are mounted on a stud where I could of tightened them a hair to much. I tightened them down on new lifters that soaked in oil but had never been run. I just tighten them down until I could not "roll them" with my finger. I was making sure that both valves on the cam were closed when doing that. The coolant temps went to 200 quick (3-4min) but then the thermostat would do its job. After that, if would go from 180 to 195 and then back down. I have a friend with a dyno and A/F that I can get on but I wanted to show up a little more prepared. The truck will be stored at his shop while I build our new house, so I can get some use out of it while its there. Let me know what y'all think with this new info. I cant say thank you enough for all the time y'all have spent looking over this with/for me. Buck

 

[68stang73]

You should be able to throw a vac gauge on it to see if valves are out of synk. I would think you need to readjust them now.

 

[buckva73]

Sorry Alpacket, They did not touch anything in the motor. I was there every day, so I know they didn't mess with it. 68stang73; thanks for the input. I got a vacuum gauge today as well but didn't have time and didn't want to burn the one wire to mess with it. I did put it on to see and it was reading 16 steady but I would say it was not at full operating temps. Buck

 

[pcf_mark]

300 degrees is not a problem. I do not think you are running lean with 300 degree temps but you may have some wonky timing needs. To help with the hot start problem I would bring the timing back to 10-12 degrees then remove a spring from the advance weights. This way as soon as the engine starts the weight flies out and you get mechanical advance in early. old school Chevy trick to help with slow hot starts.

When you say 3" dump do you mean the exhaust ends very close to the collector - like open headers? This could be really adding to your problem. Between engine pulses the exhaust changes direction instantly and if you are running near open headers cold oxygen rich air gets drawn into the exhaust and start to mix and burn any unburnt fuel. That would cause it to start glowing near the collector for sure.

 

[buckva73]

Evening update. I went over everything this evening and put a protector on the wires that are close to the headers. Let it warm up and once it did, the sparks came on. The wires had sparks flying everywhere, off the cap and at the motor. Didn't run it long so I did not see if the headers were still glowing. I have the timing set at 20* and the carb tuned for now and the vacuum gauge is happy living at 17. I'm going to check the grounds to make sure everything is as clean as it looks and might add one from the block to the frame and then I can rule that out completely. Mark; it is a dump on the muffler right before the rear. I am running a magnaflow 2 into 1 muffler. Going to get pipe added to exit like stock but have not yet. Buck

 

[EricLar80]

What do your cap and rotor look like under the cap? Anything odd?

Eric

 

[68stang73]

At this point i think you should shoot a video so we can see whats going on. But yeah check that block to fire wall is grounded the fire wall to frame,frame to block and bat. That should do it for ya as for grounding is conserned.

 

[buckva73]

The cap and rotor look brand new. Plugs look the same. I will try to shot a video but not sure if it will pickup what it needs to. Buck

 

[buckva73]

The good news is that the headers did not glow for the 15 min or so that it ran but the bad news is that the camera would not pick up the sparks. It is only when it gets warm and jumps all over. One thing that I was wondering about is that the ground from the motor is to the stud that is on the gas pedal that comes through the fire wall. Now both the inside and engine bay has lizard skin sprayed on it with base coat clear coat. It is connected to good metal but not sure if the ground is good. Also I want to backtrack a little and with the timing set at 20* the idle glow was gone but it would glow if I kept it at 2500 rpm. I cant do that right now because my neighbors kids are asleep. Thanks, Buck

 

[pcf_mark]

You should not have any random external spark. Cheap or dried up wire, oil in them etc. Those mis fires are leaving fuel in the header to burn. With a carb I was running 18-20 initial advance with 36 total all in by 2500 rpm. Ported vacuum to the vac can on the distributor. With an automatic that worked pretty good.

 

[EricLar80]

Have you pulled the spark plugs lately to see what they look like?

Eric