350 exhaust cherry red ?

Make sure you have the right Timing Tab on it. SBCs had 2 different kinds. you need to put it at TDC on #1 and make sure the marks line up. thats the first ting i would do.

 

Dakota.good point.
the timing is of
period

 

12-14 initial, 34-36 total ( set with no vacuum advance ) Your vacuum advance canister should add another 12-20 for part throttle operation. The more overlap you have on your cam the higher you set your initial timing, up to, and including locking out the timing advance.

 

As timing is advanced, the ignition event begins earlier and combustion is mostly complete before the exhaust valve opens keeping most of the combustion heat in the cylinder. Some of this heat is absorbed into the coolant but it shouldn't be so much as to cause overheating if the cooling system is up to snuff.

With the timing retarded the combustion process starts later and as a result the fuel mixture is still burning when the exhaust valve opens passing the extra heat into the headers or manifolds. If the exhaust valve was opening early it would create the same kind of condition.

What could cause the exhaust valve to open too early? Advanced cam timing, which would also advance all valve timing events. Changes in valve lash also change cam timing slightly but this only really comes into play with solid lifters. Increased lash opens valves later and closes them earlier. Being a Target or crate motor though I'm assuming it has hydraulics. If they're adjusted to run quietly at zero lash this shouldn't have any ill effect on valve timing.

What kind of exhaust system does the vehicle have? An exhaust restriction may be helping to hold too much heat in the headers. As far as high coolant temps, do you have a good clean radiator and are you running a thermostat?

 

+1 on valves set too tight with hydraulic lifters in new engines, seen this a bunch.

 

10 degrees of timing (BTDC) should be fine to sort out what you have there. Could the distributor be one tooth off?

As a wild idea, is the radiator top tank below the level of the cylinder heads? I've seen that wreak havoc and cause the glowing header problem.

Bob

 

Thanks for all the input,
The cooling system and exhaust are all new, we have not made any valve adjustments. Played with the timing some more yesterday and it has a stumble as you get on the throttle(accelerator pump?) but the biggest thing is it's still overheating. We ran out of time, but plan to check carb adjustments, and fine tune the timing some more next Saturday.
I'll let you know

 

Cams bad.......