Ok so, im considering buying a 77 Camaro with a Chevy 350 from an old corvette stingray for a price of $800. The seller has disclosed an engine cooling problem that causes the passenger side header to glow orange as soon as the engine heats up. The owner before him ran water instead of antifreeze causing rust build up. He told me that he replaced the water pump and the thermostat, but it didnt solve the problem. His mechanic friend suggested that it may be a clog somewhere in the cooling system.

Any experience and/or advice would be greatly apprieciated!!

 

Did the guy tell you what the inside of the block and the old water pump looked like when he replaced it, was it all crapped up? It almost sounds like they're grasping at straws though.
Does it turn red at idle, while driving, or both? Does the engine have actual headers, or stock manifolds? If headers, do all four pipes heat up, or only some? A common cause for glowing headers is a rich fuel mixture, where the unburnt gas then gets burnt in the exhaust. Another could be if the timing is retarded; that alone makes an engine run hotter, and with the timing being off, all the fuel isn't getting burned because the plugs are firing late. Again, unburnt fuel then gets dumped into the exhaust. Now combine a rich running carb with the timing being retarded, and i think you get the picture. The strange thing is that you're only getting glowing on one side. It's possible that the cooling passages could be restricted on that head. You could have all three (heat, fuel, timing), or any combination of these things going on. I would start with the basics, timing and carb tuning (check the spark plugs to see if any look rich or lean). Then worry about the head. Oh, if you have stock cast iron exhaust manifolds, it could be something with that. We can get into that if those are what you have.

 

The guy told me that when he replaced the water pump, it was all crapped up inside. Yes they are actual headers, and only 2 of the 4 glow red (at idle) on the passenger side.
But at this point lets just assume that the cooling passages are restricted. What next? How would i fix that?
Thanks for the advice!

 

timing
idle mixture

 

Eventhough only half of the pipes on the passenger side header are the only ones glowing?
Wouldnt all of the headers glow if it was timing and/or idle mixture?