Alright, I just got my car back from a complete engine rebuild and after the 1st day of driving it, Ive already run into a couple problems.

First off, My car has the following:
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350 TPI

Edelbrock Headers
MSD Igniton/Wires
New Spark Plugs
Removed Cat
Flowmaster Mufflers
3 Inch ehxaust all the way back

The rebuild consisted of the following:
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My 350 With the following:

New Crank
Bored .30 Over
New Pistons
New Rings
Port/Matched Heads
Valve Job
New Lifters
Heavier Pushrods
New Competition Cam With .500/.510 Lift (Almost Positive)
180* Thermostat

I was there during alot of the re-assembly process and got to watch him set my timing.
When he 1st checked it, the timing was at around 12* Degrees, and before my engine had it's rebuild, it was a snappy son of a gun.
The mechanic set the timing back to factory specs, which is 6* Degrees, why did he do this?

Now to explain my problems, after about 20 min of driving the car the temp. rose to 235*, also my car seems to have absolutely no power to it, No, I havent been gettin on it, but from personal experience, the car was faster BEFORE it was taken apart.
There is also a noticable hesitation when you first press the pedal, as in I can feel the car kind of "kick-In" about a split second "AFTER" I hit the gas.

Why is this?

Can my timing have anything to do with why my engine is running so hot?
Im thinking the timing must have something to do with the power loss, along with the heat.

Also, is alot of advanced engine timing bad on a new motor? Because if not, i'll have them set it back to what it was.

And finally, based on what's been done to the engine, what degree of timing would you all advise?

The engine itself only has 23 miles on it, and im in the process of the 500 mile break in time, just decided to ask before I went any further.

 

First off, shouldn't timing be at 6* BTDC?
Your tune is also probably off with the mods
you have done. Check out the diy prom section...
Your timing is probably to advanced and I bet
you're running pig rich.

 

What does BTDC mean?

Also, the mods that I mentioned before the rebuild were already done to it before I got the car, and the car had absolutely no problems/ ran perfect.

The only thing thats been done to the car since ive gotten it is the engine rebuild.

I dont know, it just sounded like the engine ran ALOT better before he turned the timing down, as in not sounding like it wants to die/ sound like its sputtering to keep alive.

 

Before Top Dead Center = BTDC-When your pistons are at the top of their combustion chamber. Usually when you have work done to your engine like you have, advancing the timing isn't such a bad idea. I have a 91 GTA. I know a few guys who have GTA's with engine work who advanced it to 8 or 10. Mines around 10. I had very similar work done to my engine as you have. Bored .30 over 350, rebuilt with all the good internal stuff, edelbrock headers, etc. When I got my car back from the shop, I had the exact same problem that you described, when first stepping on the gas there's a slight hesitation then a split second later, it gets going.....That was the timing. I would crank up the timing to where you had it. Your engine isn't exactly stock anymore so the way I see it, stock timing will cause it to run poorly. As for the high temp....not too sure, coolant at correct level? thermostat sticking? I don't think timing will cause it to run hot.....I don't see why it would. Another good idea may be a chip programed with your changes. I got one for mine through fastchip.com. There's a form with all your changes you've had that you print out, then fill out, and then fax to them. They run about $300, but it's a good investment. You don't want your car's computer thinking your running stock when you actually aren't

 

Alright, sounds like I need to bump my timing back up to 12* and go from there, as for the cooling problem, the thermostat is new, but there's always that chance it could be bad.

How do I tell if a thermostat is bad or not? Or is there a way?

 

The best way to test your thermostat is to put it into a container of boiling water. If it doesn't open, it's bad. It should open when it reaches 180

 

If the motor hasnt run much, that could explain some why its getting so hot.

When I first started up my 350, mine was getting hot too, up around the 220 or so mark. i noticed that after I had run it for awhile during timing setup etc.... (probably 30-45 minutes of total run time) that it started to stay cooler.

The rings and stuff are real tight in the beginning, so its generating a lot of extra heat.

Also, the second thing that could be going on is an air bubble in the cooling system. Make sure the car is cold, take off the radiator cap, and then start the car. Make sure the heater is on so it will pull coolant into the heater core and then it it circulate. If there was an air bubble you should see your coolant level go down. Just add back in accordingly and then put your cap back on.

Since I did all of this I have been running pretty consistant around the 180deg mark.

I have a total of 65ish miles on my new 350. keeping it under 4k rpms and just running it through the different rpms to help it seat properly. Cant wait to get the 500 miles in to do some burnouts
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New Thermostat is like 12 bucks. Just drop the coin and get it overwith. Dont by a cheapy, I got a milodon one and its working fine for me.

 

Alright then. The second I get a chance to im gonna make sure there's no air bubbles.

Just need to get some miles on it to see how things are really working, along with bumping my timing back up.

Thanks guys for all the help, what a wonderful forum.

 

Just give em more advance men!!!

Less advance will result in a hotter running engine and in poor starting and acceleration, if your motor does'nt ping then try a bit more and do some road test and enjoy a pulling engine!!

If you hear pinging depress imidiatly gas pedal, this is not good at all

I'm carbed but my advanced is set at 22° initial (38 total@3500rpm), at 18° initial I have trouble to start at red light, hesitate, die, ... ...

The important thing is not to have more then 36-38 total advance (at high rpm)

 

Advancing the timing on the distributer is alright for carb. But for EFI, the timing tables in the computer will be scewed! Your better off burning a new prom or else your ecm doesn't know how how advanced you are.

 

If the car ran good at 12 degrees B4 it's sure to run fine with it now
Put it back to 12 if that's what it wants but often when u build a new engine with EFI u need to get your computer reprogramed
Did you get a computer controled cam?