Just finished installing my drivers side header. These are the same headers that were on the engine before so all of the clear coat is already burned off. Started it up to time it and it was smoke coming from in between the heads and headers on both sides. I let the car run around 10 seconds or so and turned it off. The headers were already extremely hot. The engine has not been started for about 6 months and I replaced cam, lifters, different heads. Do I have a major issue here? I've started the car up about 3 more times and ran for about the same time hoping that the smoke would stop but it never did.


Had some suggestions for an exhaust leak, timing issue, rockers tightened too much. Any other suggestions? I took the drivers side valve cover off and loosened the rockers a little and it still smokes.


Here is a video. My timing is all over the place, sorry if you cant really read all that well but you get the point. You can also see the smoke coming from the heads/headers. When I turned it off I heard a little bit of a clang noise. I think something is really screwed up.

 

Headers DO get hot.....

Did you put your oily, greasy hands all over the headers when you R&R'ed them?

Do you have an oil leak?

 

No oil leak, no oil or grease on the headers. I've cranked the car about 7 or 8 times now and it acts the same way every time. Around the 10 second mark it starts smoking. I've loosened the rockers and get the same result. I could possibly let it run longer but I'm afraid I will mess something up.

 

What do you consider extremely hot? If they're not glowing red at an idle, they're probably not too hot.

There's always a possibility that you have a vacuum leak after having the intake manifold off. Engine may be running lean causing overly hot exhaust.

 

Maybe extremely hot was the wrong word lol. They aren't glowing but do get very hot to the touch fast. Right now I don't have a vacuum line that comes from the firewall. I believe it is an HVAC line that hooks up to the plenum. I have a MAP sensor hooked up there because I don't have the 90-92 plenum. I will be purchasing 1 either today or tomorrow though.

 

My headers smoked for about 10-15 minutes due to just the natural oil on my hands touching them. Same thing happened with about three other vehicles that I have installed headers on. Grab a degreaser and degrease them really good and see if that helps.

 

Sounds like your valve cover gasket is leaking.....

 

Sounds like you need to advance the timing about 30°. Stay conservative like that; advance it in small increments only.

 

my headers smoked after they were painted for about 15 min. I used black

 

is it exhaust smoke or something burning smoke? How are your header gaskets?

 

I added a video of my issue.

 

That's about how mine smoked after I reinstalled them. Lifted the motor to go through it and recoated the headers. They smoked for about 10 minutes when I first fired up the car to burn off oil from my hands and to cure the coating. If it doesn't look like you have an oil leak of any kind then I'd say monitor it closely while it's running but let it run for 10-15 minutes and see if it changes. If you keep shutting it off right after it gets hot and starts to burn off whatever it's burning off it'll take forever.... I would at least say run it long enough to get your timing adjusted and go from there.