I don't remember ever reading about or hearing about a 289 that ran at 0 TDC. Even with a fairly hot cam, you should still be running somewhere around 8 degrees BTDC. Running at 0 TDC will most definitely heat her up.

 

I found they would heat up when they are too far advanced but I never tried to run one at zero.

 

To me, that is advanced.

 

I started at the normal 6d before and the engine rebuilder said to try it at TDC. I'm heading to the gargage to try it at 8-10d BTC

PS - yes I have a shroud for the fan.

Thanks for the inputs

 

Sorry - it idles at 700RPM

 

Good news and bad news

The driving temp dropped from 195d to 180-185 but at idle, it hit 205-210 quickly.
The idle was about 800 rpm
I change the timing from 6d BTC to 10d BTC - I must have changed it from 0 to 6d on another attempt

Better but not what I'd trust in St. Louis traffic!

 

Wild cams require more advance. You want to run as much advance as possible with out the the engine pinging on hard acceleration. I would keep playing with the timing but those temps really dont sound that bad. Water boils at 212. With antifreeze and the added pressure both increase the boiling point of the system so you should be ok. It must be pretty hot in St. Louis. I think you are doing pretty good.

 

Can't believe your engine builder said to run it at TDC, that is crazy!

 

Thanks for the reply and postives - I'll contact Edelbrock tomorrow and see if they have any words of wisdom.

I'll keep you posted

Thanks!

 

Keep us posted