Scheister

ok, this was my first time do anything major to any car. what i did was: put a new cam and lifters and pulled the heads to be ported and polished. now that everything is back together i started the car. first i hear a squeeching belt so i turn it off right away and tighten the belt. start it again and bring it up to the 2000 rpm the cam directions told me to. a few seconds later there was light white smoke coming off the motor so i turned it off. when i went to look it looks like something is burning off of the exhaust manifolds. is this normal? i dont have any fluid leaks anywhere. also when i turned the motor of i could hear a loud ticking comming from under the valve covers. is this all normal for the first few min?

forgot to add: it fired right up on the first try.

ede

normal for oil and coolent to burn off of or out of the exhaust. check for leaks, check/set timing, change the oil after 30 minutes or so. usually more normal for it to not start right up

Scheister

ok, thanks! im pretty sure its just stuff burning off the exhaust manifolds. after ive turned it off ive check for leaks but havent found any. if it werent for the smoke freaking me out i think itd be fine. i just REALLY dont want a fire. will i hurt the cam if i keep starting it, bringing it up to 2000rpm and turning it off when i see smoke?

Mcdamit

just let it run

Dan8289gta

Handling the manifolds with oil on your hands will cause smoke from the manifolds when you first fire it.

del91_305

I did a similar swap on mine, and when i started mine it smoked like crazy. Its just from getting grease and stuff on your hand and then handling the engine parts and then they get hot. It will stop eventually

Scheister

ok thanks guys! ill let you know how it goes and if it burst into flame or not! ive run it at 2000 rpm for a min or 2 until the smoke started to freak me out and i havent gotten any trouble codes from the diacom-p software and it says everything is peachy.

Scheister

ok the smoke when away and it seems all good, but 1 thing. the stock guage goes up to the last white line but the diacom-p software says the coolant temp is 208. which one do i trust?

91ChevyRS

My car has been doing that since I got it, smoking on start up but its just one straight up puff of smoke and it clears off. Apparently this happens to a Camaros/Firebirds of these ages and its nothing to worry about. I also had white smoke coming from the engine area earlier today but then I realized that I got an oil change today and the guy spilled a wee bit of an oil on the side of the engine so it just may burned off while I was driving home, nothing major...

But yeah I'd check for leaks and stuff

Scheister

not it wasnt that kind of smoke from that place. it was just grease on the manifolds like everyone said above. that puff of smoke on startup was one of the reasons i pulled the heads to have them ported and polished.

its actually running great and i havent even timed it yet.

darrells3rdgen

208 degrees seems a little high to me, on all of my cars when ever I see the guage hitting the 200 mark I shut the car down and check things out.

if your not sure you can temporary install a mechanical temp guage and compare the readings . I install them on all of my cars along with a "wet" mechanical oil guage, and I never have to second guess them.

Dan8289gta

208 is within normal operating temp of our cars.

Scheister

oh i figured out why it was getting so hot. i was trying to break the cam in in the garage... in 108 degree weather... so 2000 rpm in a hotass garage doesnt not work well.

Mcdamit

looking to gas yourself out. man running a car in a garage even with the door open can kill you.