glowing headers def. means your running lean, i like the thought crazypete has about intake leaking. obviously your not running real rich cuz that would not happen and you would be able to smell the fuel...i would reseat the intake and see if that help, if not then its a fuel problem...
Sounds like the intake gasket is blocking the water passage, keeping the coolant from flowing through the intake and making it hot. Double check it. Vacuum leaks will make it run like crap, but won't cause it to get that hot, that quick.
this is totally wrong. sure it will. i know for sure i have an intake leak because i can hear it and within 1 minute they were setting the plug wires on fire and glowing. lean mixtures cause hotter temps. rich mixtures cause cooler because the fuel cools the chambers.
I fixed the problem. Apparently I suffer from a disorder called "can't do 2 things at once"
When I was on the phone and installing my thermostat, I put it in backwards.
So there was Zero water getting to the heads thus not cooling my heads and making them glo red.
Lesson learned NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do 2 things at once while working my car, my brain can only do so much at one time....
Oh yeah, and the high idle was my throttle cable not positioned correctly.
wow hope you didn't wreck anything. last time i seen headers glow like that it was because timing was way retarded. but it is always nice to have another reason for that to happen.