headers glowing??
 

My friend just did a cam change in his 95 chevy 350 throttlebody Z-71. He also put new long tube headers with header wrap. He started it today and was breaking in the cam and the headers were glowing red! It caught the header wrap on fire :mad: . What went wrong?????? Cam specs .420/.442 204/214 112lsa. He was running open headers during this attempt to break in the cam until flames!! Is it running too lean or timing way off. Started at bump of key.
Thanks :mad:

By no means do I know everything so don't take this wrong but was he supposed to use the wrap my headers said not to wrap them.

FYI... Header wrap usually voids most header manufacturers warranties.

It sounds like your motor is out of time. The timing gear or distibuter may have jumped timing where it will cause the headers to heat up. Did it loose power.

:stupid: Something went wrong with the cam install.

Exactly.

Timing chain may also have not been installed with the gears properly aligned.

Tell your friend not to run it like that.

You may have a vacumm leak which is causing lean condition.Check vacum lines or intake gaskets.

I bet your 180* off.

Hi all, its my truck that's glowing.

I only ran it a couple minuites until I saw the fire. Every thing seemed normal until that point. Couldnt hear much due to the open headers, but the motor was running smooth, oil pressure was good, coolent temp was heating up and stabilized (I had the engine block heater pluged in prior to starting so it didnt take long to heat up), no warning lights.

Could it be the ignition timing alone?
I could be wrong, but would it even run if it were 180* out? It is very possiable that the timing is WAY out since of course I had the cam and distribuitor out.

I feel perty confident that the cam was installed correctly, and the distributor is sit down in the correct position, but not to say I couldn't have screwed up aligning the timing marks or have the distribuitor a couple teeth off though.

Would there be any harm in turning the distribuitor (clockwise to retard - right?) and starting the truck again? This time though I plan to have my helper keep close watch on the headers so I can shut it off ass soon as they start to glow.

As far as the header wrap goes, I've heard it will cause them to rust out faster, they arent high dollar headers so seems like a fair trade off if I can keep the underhood temp down.

Any more thoughts?

Thanks,

Mike

First get a timing light and check your timing. If the truck fired right off without popping or anything your close. Retarding the timing would make it worse. If the pipes are red retarding the timing will make it worse.
Header wrap " do not do it" on a street vehicle. Voids warranty and there is not a header on the planet that will not cook under those conditions. I beleive most instruction say not to do it a street stuff.
Ok back on subject. Check the timing, if that is ok your cam install is fine.
Is the header glowing RED or have a slight red hue in the dark. If the second that is normal, most headers you can see in the dark especially at the bend right off the head.
You need to get some exhaust on the truck and get a little bit of back pressure on the system. It is possible that you are savaging some raw fuel into the pipe and it is lighting in the exhaust.
Just my opion
Ricky