[Fast Orange]

aight ive exhausted all resources and im running out of steam..
the basic motor setup is a regular 350 with minimal compression (around 8.75)
points style dist with vac advance, holley 600. some sort of cam. I bought the car not running did a little tuning and got it going.. all of the sudden it starts running hot.. and its got some timing issues.. its got like 30 degrees of advance! i have to set the intial timing at 6 degrees to keep the total under 38.. if i set the initial any higher the motor will try to run on after i kill the key.. it will shut off for like half a second and then glug and spew a few times.. ive been told that it needs to be around 16-18 intial and under 40 total..the car is slugish at low rmp and has good midrange.. horrible mileage.. so what could be the culprit in my timing issues?
next prob is temp.. the car started running about 230ish so i opted for a stewart stage 2 pump, 160 therm, aluminum radiator and a recover tank, and some royal purple stuff.. its down to about 215 now..haha... i read a little about the placement of the sensor and determined that i need to move the sensor to the intake instead of the head which still leaves the car around 200.. no signs of a blown head gasket, vacuum leaks, or air in the system and im almost sure it should run cooler with everything ive done.. so im thinking timing is still the culprit i bought an hei and a 6a im going to try now but i still like to have some input/ answers.. any are appreciated..
thanks..

ps this is on my 69 camaro not the chevelle in my sig..

 

[Tom Mobley]

need to get a distributor with a short curve, like 15-18 degrees. then you can set your inital up without going loco on the total. also want to check the vacuum advance, make sure it's working and find out how much it's adding. It would be nice if you could set the initial at 12-14 or so, end up with 32 or so total mechanical and roll on 15 of vacuum advance for steady state cruise.

when did the car start running hot? right after you did something with the dist? or made some other change? If it has a clutch fan you need to make sure the clutch is good. verify that the fan shroud is installed. need to make sure the system holds pressure, a radiator shop will have a pressure tester. If it has an aluminum flex fan you might consider replacing it with a stock type. when the blades flatten out they can act as a block to airflow.

Have somebody test your old distriubtor and the new HEI for the amount of advance and the RPM it comes in at. Don't put the new dist in until you have it checked for the timing curve, otherwise you really have no idea what your getting. The MSD won't help.

 

[imchefbrian]

I was having the same issues, changed the springs on the distributer to stiffer and reduced how fast the total advance was coming in. It did help.

 

[Fast Orange]

tom- ive got a 16 inch electric fan that runs about 3200cfm.. i think ive got a guy that can help me figure out the curves on the dist.. i also had a thought about the rich/lean of the motor.. could the primaries be lean and the secondaries rich.. a low speed cruise doesnt make the motor heat up but a 55 to 70 will.. i thought about the jets being off and tested my theory.. i know the timing is part of the issue but i sat at a stop light and the temp was about 200 then i nailed it to the next light going to about 5600 rmps.. when i arrived at the next light after 2 gears the temp was down to 170.. could the secondaries be cooling the motor off.?
brian-thanks for the advice..

 

[Randy Mosier]

Since you bought the car "not running", it tells me that it sat for a while. I would pop the distributor cap and try turning the rotor by hand in the clockwise direction. If it doesn't move easily or at all, the mechanical advance mechanism is frozen and the distributor will have to pulled and cleaned up, or a replacement distributor installed.

The rotor should move freely about an 1/8th of a turn and snap back when released. Not having sufficient mechanical advance can cause overheating problems, as well as the other problems you describe.

 

[Fast Orange]

well the car sat for 5 YEARS!! haha.. i was amazed there was no smoke or junk or sputtering when i started it.. but that is somthing to be concidered.. you guys are more than helpful.. some times we all get so overwhelmed or ancy that we look over the small stuff.. thanks guys..ill give an update..

 

[Fast Orange]

put an hei on it, relocated the temp sensor to the intake, went up to a 180 therm, put a coolant recovery tank on it, went from 64 primary jets to 70s, and bumped the timing up to 14 intial.. she runs anywhere from 180 to 190 now.. according to the plugs theres still a few more degrees timing to be had and thats with 89 octane.. i think im gonna bump it up till it pings and just come back a little bit.. now i need to find a vacuum gauge so i can make sure the power valve is the right one.. it was kinda crazy because jumping from 64's to 68's actually cooled the motor down 10 or so degrees.. its a refurb style 600.. i figure its probably too little but for my daily it will work..

 

[Tom Mobley]

you went from 64 to 70 in a 600? that's just really wrong. most would be fine with 62-64, maybe every once in a while a 66, but 70? No. somehow here you are covering up one problem with another. recommend you go back to the stock jet, find out what is really wrong instead running it pig rich. it's going to go through spark plugs like crazy.

 

[Fast Orange]

its not running pig rich.. the plugs actaully show a good tune.. a nice light brown/ tan color.. the electrode has burn almost all the way down.. thats with 14 degrees of intial timing.. i mean a 600 isnt the biggest carb.. running a cammed 350 with headers and intake i would think a 600 would be small and according to holleys site its too small... you can smell a little fuel in the pipes but its not raw fuel and ive put over a hundred miles on the plugs and they arent fowled or suited or anything.. im seeing an extremly clean burn.. ill post some pics of the plugs and let you be the judge..