I fired up my motor for the first time last night after the rebuild. New pistons, rings, rods, bearings, main caps, etc..

I borrowed a carb (950hp) for the break in before the FAST kit.

I know motors tend to run a little hot on initial run because of everything being tight, and the collector ends of the headers (these are shorty) were red and flames were shooting out while it was running at about 1600-1700 rpms.

I am assuming this is because the carb is dead fat and the excess fuel is burning off? The plugs were very black too.

I have never run a motor with shorties, much less open headers, so I don't know if the "flames" part is normal? Water temperature wise, everything was normal.

Late timing probably.

I'm also gonna jump in with it needs more timing! if your numbers are OK check and see if your damper/pointer are correct.

Almost always not enough ignition timing as previous stated, especially harsh under no load... Crank it up into the mid 30's should cool right off.

You guys are good! I think my timing is a little late...I just set it by "eye method" by lining up the balancer mark, looking at where the rotor is pointing to on the cap... I didnt want to put too much advance in at first...

I will check it with a gun this eve.

Ya, you guys are right. I only had about 6 degrees of total advance. I changed it to 30 at 1800 rpms and no more red!