Starting the Engine - Day 2

This morning, I removed the distributor and primed the oil system so I could finish setting the lifter preload.  I set all the rockers on the driver side priming the engine with oil between each pair of rockers.  I then primed the engine a final time and reinstalled the distributor.

I turned the engine over to start it and it back fired out the carb.  I had marked the location of the distributor before removing it to reset the preload so it did not make sense at first.  I felt stupid when it occurred to me I was turning the engine over to set the lifter preload which would also change the distributor location.

I removed all the spark plugs so I could turn the engine to TDC on the #1 cylinder using a ratchet.  Once I had it in place, I resintalled the spark plugs and the distributor.  I turn the crank to 10 degress BTDC for this process.  I then line up the rotor with the #1 plug.  Ideally, this would set it to 10 degrees advance at idle.

I was able to quickly start the motor and my wife confirmed the timing was 15 degrees BTDC at 1,000 RPM.  I revved the engine to 2,000 RPM and she stated we were at 30 degrees TDC (perfect).   Only my wife was home so she watched the headers and I monitored the gauges and varied the RPM (2,000 - 2,500).  The oil pressure was great (65) and the temperature never made it over 180.  Unfortunately, after a little over four minutes, my wife said the headers are starting to turn orange again.  I decided to just turn it off rather than risk damaging anything.

I posted more about it on SBFTech.  The consensus was I would need new jets as the lean condition was causing the headers to glow.  Someone then indicated it was not needed as the engine was more running on the idle mixture.  This made sense and I knew these were not set properly.  These are set by turning them until you reach the highest level of vacuum at idle but this never worked before the rebuild so I left them at the factory setting (1.5 turns out). 

I checked them after reading the post and they were actually slightly less than 1.5 turns out.  Most of the articles I read suggested starting at that point or 2 turns out.  I set them 2.5 turns out as suggested in the posts but could not start the engine as it was already very late.  Additionally, I was still considering replacing the jets in the primaries.

I'm glad to have options and some insight into what is going on with the engine.  I wish this road were a little easier but I suppose if it was easy, anyone could do it.  I keep trying to remain calm but it is hard when you have this much money in the engine and every minute it runs at the wrong RPM or with the wrong tune could be damaging parts.

I've taken videos of every attempt to start and break in the motor.  I watched them tonight and realized we have not turned the engine over or let it run below 2,000 RPM as much as I thought.  Time almost seems to stand still and and each second the car is running last an eternity.  Watching the videos made me feel a little better as I was a little worried about the condition of my new cam.