Headers Glowing Orange?

[04sleeper]

I am trying to help a friend out who just put a 331 blower motor together and is having some issues.

It consists of the following parts, FRPP Sportsman Block, AFR 185's, Ported Holley Intake W/75 mm Accufab TB, Vortec YSI Trim blower, 1 3/4" BBK LT's with 3 inch Flowmaster collectors, 42 lb injectors, 42 lb Pro-M 80 mm, etc.....

He has a 255 in tank pump and a T-Rex inline pump. Base timing is at 10 degrees and fuel pressure is at 40 PSI. He is running 3924's gapped at .035".

He is just trying to get the car running so he can break it in and then he is putting on 60 lb. injectors and a lightning mass air when he gets the car tuned. He is not driving ther car hard at all, just wants it to drive to put some miles on it before the dyno tune.

He said his headers will heat up and eventually start glowing orange. He has told me his temp gauge is between 180-190 so thats good.

Any ideas?

I would think it was running lean for the headers to glow. Anyone else care to guess?

Thanks,

Kevin

Here's a picture of the engine.

 

[Black 93 Fox]

Its his timing I just went threw this last week with my new motor frist start up and the headers turned BRIGHT orange. If I remeber right means his timing is retarded too much. Either way have him re-set the timing.

 

[Paul Perreca]

i dont know but that engine is the most beautiful thing I've seen since I woke up this morning... Makes me want to cry like a little girl actually. Its Sad.
Paul Perreca

 

[04sleeper]

Its his timing I just went threw this last week with my new motor frist start up and the headers turned BRIGHT orange. If I remeber right means his timing is retarded too much. Either way have him re-set the timing.

He said he checked the timing with 2 different timing lights and said it was at 10 degrees. Then he set it at 6 degrees and still didn't help. Should he try to advance it?

 

[04sleeper]

i dont know but that engine is the most beautiful thing I've seen since I woke up this morning... Makes me want to cry like a little girl actually. Its Sad.
Paul Perreca

Well here's another shot of it for you then.

 

[Black 93 Fox]

I dont know much about blower motors yet. But stock timing is 10 I have mine set at 14. If he is starting the motor with out the blower hooked up which I think is probaly best for break in then I would have him advance it to 12 or 13 to start with. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Black 93 Fox]

By the way SWEEEEET motor

 

[04sleeper]

Thanks for the input Black 93 Fox.

Anyone else?

 

[HISSIN50]

Kevin, does he have an I/R thermometer? I would want to get a relative comparo between various cylinders at the pipes (absolute numbers dont matter so much since they could be skewed, but relative numbers might reveal something).

No great ideas here, but bump. Good luck Kevin.

 

[Dark Knight]

advance the timing some, retarding it will make it worse. It's firing to late on the compression stroke so the burning gasses are going into the exhaust and heating the header up. Probably want to get a boost timing retard to knock back the timing as boost increases...

 

[04sleeper]

Kevin, does he have an I/R thermometer? I would want to get a relative comparo between various cylinders at the pipes (absolute numbers dont matter so much since they could be skewed, but relative numbers might reveal something).

No great ideas here, but bump. Good luck Kevin.

No he doesn't. He thought it was the injectors so he took them to Wilson Manifolds in Ft. Lauderdale and they cleaned and flowed them. Still no luck.

Yeah he said number 7 and 4 heat up the first and then the others follow.

advance the timing some, retarding it will make it worse. It's firing to late on the compression stroke so the burning gasses are going into the exhaust and heating the header up. Probably want to get a boost timing retard to knock back the timing as boost increases...

He has a boost retard on his car but he nas yet to see boost. He is just driving slowly around his neighborhood. Hasn't even taken it out of the neighborhood yet.

He says it will do it just sitting at idle if it sits long enough.

Thanks for the replys guys.

 

[Daniel50]

wow grat looking engine. i heard of headers glowing red and even white but not orange

 

[04sleeper]

Yeah. They would have turned red if he would have kept running the engine.

 

[Mike97gt]

a very lean a/f ratio can cause the headers too get very hot and glow. try increasing the fuel pressure.

 

[my$100project]

What about a clogged cat? (if he's running them) Couldn't a lack of restriction cause the headers to glow???

 

[Gearbanger 101]

:OT: .....but he's gonna peg that Lightning MAF in a hurry with that set up. I'd have him look into a different type of aftermarket meter if I were him.

 

[5spd GT]

I had a very similar issue upon startup of my h/c/i swap. I had the timing at 10* and the headers started to glow. I bumped it up to 14* (at the time) and no more glow. Advance it some I would think even with the supercharger????

Good Luck with it!

 

[04sleeper]

a very lean a/f ratio can cause the headers too get very hot and glow. try increasing the fuel pressure.

Thats what I was thinking but he has not tried it yet. I will let him know.

What about a clogged cat? (if he's running them) Couldn't a lack of restriction cause the headers to glow???

Yes it could cause that be he is not running any.

.....but he's gonna peg that Lightning MAF in a hurry with that set up. I'd have him look into a different type of aftermarket meter if I were him.

He is going to put it on when he gets it tuned. He says it should be fine once it's tuned.

I think he should go get it tuned and then go from there but thats just me.

I had a very similar issue upon startup of my h/c/i swap. I had the timing at 10* and the headers started to glow. I bumped it up to 14* (at the time) and no more glow. Advance it some I would think even with the supercharger????

Thanks David. I will let him know all the suggestions.

Thanks guys.

 

[jerryD]

mite be running rich. the extra, unburnt fuel is getting ignited in the header causing it to glow.

 

[bentley429]

I dont know much about blower motors yet. But stock timing is 10 I have mine set at 14. If he is starting the motor with out the blower hooked up which I think is probaly best for break in then I would have him advance it to 12 or 13 to start with. Let us know how it goes.