WA71swinger
Well-Known Member
Love this site. Go to post a quick question and spend hours reading what others are fiddling with. Finally fired the 360 I've been dragging my feet on for the past couple years. Hydraulic cam. 1st fire up ran It about 10 minutes between 1500-2500rpms. Headers started leaking water onto the exhaust = smoke. Shut her down. tightened header bolts to head. She got to about 215 degrees. 2nd round. Ran about 7 or 8 minutes and headers are glowing hot at near the firewall being the hottest spot. Shut her down. Temp gauge read 210. Lots of pressure (too much) on top radiator hose. Vented radiator by leaving cap off after engine cooled. Thinking there may be an air pocket. Tightened other spot headers now dripping water from. 3rd run. about 10 minutes. Put radiator cap back on after a minute. Headers start to glow again. Radiator (only) feels very hot. Manifold temp gauge reads 190 degrees. Doesn't feel like excessive heat coming off the motor. Shut her down because I don't like the headers glowing. Am I just a wuss? Is it because I wire brushed the rust and many years of street grime and oil off the headers? Is it timing? 11:1. iron head. stock valve size. 289/292 .486 lift hydraulic flat tappet cam. VP 110. Timing (wanted to start low), 14 degrees initial, 32 total. all in at 2500rpm. I did not put it on the timing light but I'm pretty confident, from experience, it will be damn close to that. Setting initial at the balancer from true TDC. Do I need more initial timing? any help on why headers keep leaking coolant around header gaskets?