NOSFEDGTA

I am looking for some help with a serious problem I am having with my new motor. Its been an ongoing thing for almost 8 months now and I still have no answers from anyone that I have talked to. Let me start by giving all the specs to my motor.

Motor: 383cid 4 bolt main, fully forged bottom end with 1 piece rear main.
Heads: AFR 190cc no egr, no heat riser, flowed 258int
Valvetrain: Crane Race Roller Lifters with link bar and matching Pushrods with Crane Energizer 1.6 Roller Rockers. Comp Cams Custom Cam. Lift---545int. 545exh. Dur@50 236int. 244exh. cam has 5 deg advance ground into it and installed at 108. So lobe sep is 113.
Iduction: Accel Pro Ram Single Plain with custom fuel rails and SX Regulator and 30lb SVO injectors. System was done by Force Fuel Injection “ Had SuperRam and Edelbrock Base 58mm Edelbrock T/B”
ECU: Stock Ecm With Custom Chip Done by David Emanuel from Random Technology//////// Also Haltech DFI “Will explain later”
Ignition: MSD Billett Dist, MSD 6A, Accel Coil, and Taylor 409 Pro Race Wire
Exhaust: Hooker Super Comp 1 ¾ Jet Hot Coated. Custom Y-Pipe into 3in Flowmaster.
Nitrous System: NX Wet system jetted for 175-250. Custom fuel system for NOS. 1 gallon fuel cell, Vortech T-rex fuel pump, Mallory regulator, and all stainless steel braided line from cell to fuel solenoid.

Ok so there is the run down on the motor. Now lets discuss the problem. My headers have been glowing for the last 8 months now and I have changed, tried, and done everything possible to make them stop. At first we thought it was a tuning issue. At the time I was running a Haltech E6GM DFI. No matter what we did with timing and fuel nothing worked. So I then turned back to the stock ECU and a custom chip. Thinking this might solve the problem and eliminate an improper tuned motor. Well that did not work and between the dyno time and parts it was a costly experience. I then Tried 3 different distributors and got nothing. We tried having 30-38 deg of total advance and it changed nothing. We also tried to run the motor pig rich and real lean and it changed nothing. Now at idle they do not glow, but rev it up and they glow like a coal on a grill. So now it was onto a Fuel Pressure problem we thought, but that was not it either. Now my first cam was also a custom grind and we thought that maybe the cam was ground wrong and when talking to comp cams they thought that maybe I was over scavenging the exhaust into the header. Thats were the new cam above cam into play. After installing it we found the same problem. So I then talked to my builder and we discussed a few things and he decided to have me take the motor out and bring it to him to put on his stand to check and try things. He is an old school guy so the first thing he said was well its in the fuel injection system. So at his shop we installed a single plain intake, another dist, and a Holly 750 carb. He was confident this was going to fix it. Well guess what it did absolutely nothing. We again tried the timing at many different points between 30-and 38 deg of total advance. We then tried changing jets, and nothing. Well now the builder knew what I was going through and decided to recheck a few things. After rechecking top dead center, the timing chain and the cam using a dial indicator we found all to be right on the money. So then we degreed the cam and found that it was actually 1.5 degrees off. So instead of being in at 108 it was in at 109.5. He put a 2 deg cam button in and brought it to 106 intake center line. We then rechecked everything again and then the dampner. Again everything was fine. I am using a CAT fluid Dampner just to let you know. We put it back together and checked timing and the jets again and fired it up. At idle no glow, rev it up to 3000-3500 and keep it there it glows like a S>O>B. We then ran it with a set of shorty headman headers with a y-pipe and no muffler. We went into the shop and turned all the lights off and ran it like that and we found that there was a blue flame coming out the end of the y-pipe that was steady. Now at idle it did not do this but again at 3000 and above it does it. We are now at a stand still and he still thinks the cam is not right and its still overscavenging in the exhaust. So he wants to try a cam that he has at the shop and I told him to hold off for now. The weird thing is how well the motor runs when all of this is happening. It never spits, sputters, and the idle quality is great. Motor runs great and made impressive dyno numbers. Motor with SuperRam made over 580 ftlbs and over 400hp at the flywheel N/A. So after 4 different dist, 2 fuel inj systems, 2 carbs, and many hours we are still nowhere. So if anyone has any ideas on this please let me know cause I have over 8k in this motor and cannot even run my car.TIA

Andrew
87 Trans Am GTA, 88 Trans AM

poncho9789

I would say you have a bad cam or you need to flood the **** out of the thing and see if that will help you. Most of the time that headers glow it is from timing or fuel but you have covered all those bases. I would change the cam to something with more lsa like try a cam with a 112*lsa at the minimum or through your stock cam in if you still have it to test the theory. It can't hurt and you would eliminate the cam from the equasion. Good luck that sounds like a tough one

sleeper

what king of fuel are you using?. A fuel with a large amount of ethanol will burn hotter... I don't know what Georgia uses.

You don't mention the comp. ratio... a high ratio with a cam that doesn't bleed off some compression will cause higher gas velocity when the valves open. This is like fanning a fire. Try a longer duration cam that will bleed off some compression.

Did you try stainless headers?

Also check your valves and pistons for scorching at the edges.

Interesting problem... this is all I can think of.

giovanhalen

Wish I could think of something. Let us know if you find out what it is. I'll see if I can think of something.