I have a 5.0 with an edelbrock carb and when the car idles for 10 mins the headers are glowing red what could be the problem? Could it be the timing? Thanks if you could help. Joey
You've probably answered your own question. I had this problem on my old '86 Ford Ranger, when it was only one year old. The hold down bolt on the distributor loosened up by itself and the timing was waaaaay off. As a result, the exhaust manifolds were cherry red and their was no power to speak of.
After resetting the timing and tightening the bolt, the truck ran like it did before.
Same thing happened to me after I installed the turbos, I'd go for a ride and come back to headers that looked like 2 red neon lights on either side of the motor. Your timing is way too retarded and the unburnt fuel is igniting in the exhaust
Bad EGR sensors can cause that too, but they usually also cause a massive lack of performance. You didn't say anything about that, so I assume it's still driving ok?
If you don't have a timing light handy, you can simply hook a vaccum guage up to a intake vaccum port and adjust your timing to provide the most vaccum; this will put you in the ballpark until you can get it timed with a light.
In addition to your timing, check your carb's idle mixture settings. A lean mixture will make your exhaust very hot.