Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Chevy 250 timing

Hey guys, what should I set my timing on my Chevy 250 motor? I believe it should be on 4. Just can't remember. And at idle, should it be 700 rpm?

Anywhere between 4 & 10 btdc depending on the year. ( Stock ) after market cam can Vary

Mine it's a stock 72.

Start with 4 degrees And that is if this a stock cam.

Twisted6, I was able ti time the motor, in fact she's running goog. However, she's overheating. The reason why I bought this new motor was because the previous one was overheating as well and after replacing everything, including having the head and radiator checked, it still overheated. So the new motor is doing it now. I just don't understand, it has me pretty upset. New motor, hoses, water pump, thermostat, radiator checked by a shop, so what can it be?
My only thought is that the radiator has to be bad. I also replaced the after market temp gauge that isn't electrical.
Please advise. My next step is probably to buy a new radiator. I have also removed my tranny cooler from the front of the radiator thinking it was blocking air flow and nothing.

Check the thermostat. Put it in boiling water if you have a thermometer use it to check water temp with stat opening temp or just simply heat the water until you see the stat open. to be sure it is working. But you very well may have a rad flow issue. Just because a radiator pressure checks well doesn't always mean it flows well. It may flow but some of the cores could still be blocked.

I did check it last night and the thermostat opened just fine. I ran the engine again this morning and I even put a house fan in front of it and still overheated just sitting there.

For the overheating issue, I would look at the timing.
Is the dist vacuum line hooked to live vac or to ported?
Can you test to be sure the vac can is advancing with vac?
Retarded timing can overheat a engine quickly.
Do you have a timing light? Advance type light (adjustable)?

I didn't think about it being a timing issue because you said it was running fine, But yes I would agree to check your timing. But if it started and run at 4degrees I would not think that it's retarded Try bumping it up a few more degrees. If you're still having the same issue at Idel, I still would look more deeply at the Radiator.

FWIW
My 64 Chevelle 283 has a stick shift carb rather than one for an automatic.
The vacuum port on the stick carb is ported but full vacuum on the auto carb.
So me running with no vacuum at idle was enough to make the engine overheat for no apparent reason.
I replumbed the vacuum to the distributor so it was full vacuum at idle and no more overheating.

Disclaimers:
I don't know what years Chevy spec'd different carbs for stick shift engines and automatics, but I think early 60's, and later on emissions probably influenced how this was done.
No, I can't say for sure why no vacuum to distributor works on stick shift cars. I'm guessing the Powerglide is enough of a load on engine at idle to make a difference.
Lotsa people tell me the PG is a load ; )

Thank you for all the suggestions. I will definitely look into all of this.
Another thing that came to mind is the fact that I have just water in the radiator. I have removed my hoses on and off and flushed my radiator a couple of times, that I did not want to waste antifreeze.
Could this be my issue?

So I just bought one of those fancy radiator funnel kits to ensure I had no air or bubbles in the system. I ran it with antifreeze this time and still overheated. It ran for about 20 minutes. It got between 215 and 220.