one header tube glowing red?!?

[smartcarkiller]

there are only 2 things that will cause a header tube to glow red hot. That particular cylinder is either running rich or running lean. If it's running rich the excess fuel is burning in the header tube and not in the cylinder and if it's running lean a lean condition makes all kinds of heat which will make a header tube glow red hot. Do a compression test on all cylinders with all the plugs removed, carb at wot, and engine at operating temperature. Like chris said, the numbers really don't mean anything as long as the difference between the highest and lowest doesn't vary more than 10%. If the readings are pretty consistant across the board then you can rule out any kind of internal mechanical problem (rings, or valves). If your reading in that cylinder is alot lower than the others then you do a leakdown test to determine if it is rings, exhaust valve or intake valve giving you the low reading. Now when you take it apart you know exactly where to look for the problem.

x2. Although there may be many different reasons for this problem I believe this is the right start. Turning wrenches is usually cheaper than buying unneeded parts, ie. heads. work smart not hard.

 

[ryoken]

(+/- 10 or so) .

did i not say that? I assume he knows how to do a correct compression test, WOT, but i said that too....

this place gets me at times.... I probably do 50 compression tests a yr over 20 yrs, yet i get treated like a noob....

 

[4x4orbust]

I assume he knows how to do a correct compression test, WOT, but i said that too....

you assumed wrong!i have never done a compression test on a car/truck engine. guess i was doing it wrong!! sorry for the misleading numbers there guys, but your help is greatly appreciated!!

i am looking into getting a leakdown tester. stopped at the local advanced and they didn't have one, got one more place to try.

gonna wait for the temps to warm up a bit, (currently 8* out) and then try it all again.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

did i not say that? I assume he knows how to do a correct compression test, WOT, but i said that too....

this place gets me at times.... I probably do 50 compression tests a yr over 20 yrs, yet i get treated like a noob....

I know that you know, I was just clarifying because the way you worded it didn't seem 100% clear to me. No offense intended

 

[ryoken]

sometimes i dont know how descriptive to be... or laziness, your choice...

btw, that wasn't exagerating on my part... i must literally do 50 a yr... most of my stuff is in pairs and being a bank repo-ing company we probably pick up a 1/2 dozen boats a month... we brought one back thursday thru the ice pack... the banks always want compression tests...

sometimes i don't mind, and they're easy peezy, but as you can imagine sometimes a pair of 502's rammed in the back makes plug access difficult.... throw in fuel tanks, hotwater heaters, holding tanks, etc, and i come out bleeding...

 

[4x4orbust]

still haven't gotten to the compression test. i had to use the truck on the last storm to plow, and didn't notice anything different than before i noticed the glowing tube. drove the same.
i did get a new MSD distributor and plugs. i'm gonna put them in soon, along with a holley 600 i have hanging around, so i can rebuild the q-jet thats on there. i had all this work planned anyway, just gonna do it earlier than expected.
at that time i'll be checking the timing and doing the compression test. hopefully one night this week, but all i see in the forecast is snow!! gonna be plowing for 3 days out of the week this week!
hopefully whatever is wrong doesn't do any real damage before i can take care of it.