loosing water, ignition timing, who the F knows?

[Kaiser85]

So i keep loosing water into the overflow jug. It takes about three days to fill it up. Once the overflow jug is almost full, the engine will overheat. Theres ZERO white smoke (steam) coming out the exhaust. It starts right up, but idles rough.

Heres what i KNOW- the spark timing is off. By what margin, i am unsure, but i know its off. Now, normally id say ive got a blown head gasket but im starting to migrate towards the idea that the timing is way advanced.

I just put a new edelbrock 1405 carb on it. Ive got a new accel HEI dizzy on its way. The motor is a 350 with the edelbrock 0-5500 cam in it.

Today i pulled the valve covers and put 100 psi on each cylinder to see if i could produce bubbles in the radiator. None.

So, i know its hard to read plugs via a picture, but they look as if things are pretty hot.in the combustion chamber. This is causing the motor to run hot. Im pretty sure the guage is way off too. Itll read somewhere in middle, but with when it got over heated, the guage still only read 3/4 hot.

Anyways, enough babbling, heres some pictoral evidence to support my theory

Running, up to temp (very few, if any bubbles, but theyre rare)

Head casting numbers. What do yall make of these numbers?

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Plugs look perfect to me.

Buy a timing gun!

 

[Kaiser85]

Well lets say ive got a famous cracked 882 best of the worst heads, how straight forward is a vortec head swap? Aside from the heads, what else would it require??

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Well lets say ive got a famous cracked 882 best of the worst heads, how straight forward is a vortec head swap? Aside from the heads, what else would it require??

Just an intake manifold, or (don't do it!) ovaling holes on an early one. I guess valve covers too, they're center-bolt style (SOOO much better).

I have an Edelbrock RPM something or other on my 383 that is dual drilled for square bore or spread bore.

 

[chulisohombre]

882 heads were standard truck heads for 74-80s and were a ok head with only a 1.94 intake valve. They had overheating issues between the center wxhaust ports and would crack over time at the valve Seat. I switched mine off for 1.02 fuels heads and runs so much better. Have you tryed a new rad cap to see if that helps. It Seems like You're building Too Much pressure in the system and its not allowing the engine to get the coolant back into The radiator after it cools. Without a timing light you can try to Retard the timing by rotating the dizzy counterclockwise a lil and are if it helps. It
Would be best to get one and make Sure Of Where it Is Now though.

 

[wage92]

just something to keep in mind, vortec heads usually have smaller combustion chambers, so make sure your compression doesnt go too high.

 

[Kaiser85]

Thanks for the info guys. Any ideas on the heat issue?

Ive got a fresh bottom end, but will need to find a set of heads. Id be fine with a fresh set of 882s

 

[Kaiser85]

The first cap was crap. So i replaced it with brand A. (16psi). It wouldnt seal properly, and was REALLY easy to screw on. I replaced that with brand B, (20psi) and it doesnt leak at all, but will bleed off into the owlverflow. Its an LKQ replacement radiator, the brand.of.which i am unsure. If i knew that, id buy a cap from the manufacturer. Im thinking i may just need to play around and throw radiator caps at it until i find one that works.

 

[chulisohombre]

Just replaced my cap too after talkin to you. Lol. Stock should be 16 lbs. 20 may hold the pressure back more and cause a leak somewhere else. Watch for it. A cracked head or head gasket will let head pressure into the water jackets and over pressure the system causing it to burp into the overflow. You would probly see more bubbles than what you describe as it gets worse. Hopefully this is not what is going on. Just a thought I had.would have to do a leak down test to see for sure.