I dont know what it is, the temp gauge isnt reading abnormal. Its been quite some time since I've driven the car. It has been doing this for a while though, just took me this long to figure out that it was not right. Its so hot it keeps melting my spark plug wire holders, and even has melted 2 kickdown cables. The entire engine feels HOT, but its not running hot, its just putting off heat. What would cause this?

hmm,usually timing if out of wack,,,ive seen exhaust manifolds glow cherry red with timing off,,,check timing???

Whats factory timing?
Its got a factory Z28 cam (79 Z28).
I've had problems with it keeping time since I put this new dizzy in. I forgot about it doing that. Do you really think thats the problem?

sounds like a classic case....

Have you got a timing light ? and have you checked your initial?

plug the vac timing port, and check the initial timing at idle.. should be between 4 and 10 degrees- there should be a sticker on the rad support cover that tells you the tune up specs - if you're still using stock setup.

Retarded timing is one likely cause of overheating. I agree with the others that you should check and properly set the timing before you look for anything else.

You might also have a very lean mixture causing the overheating. You didn’t say if it occurs only at idle, but since the water temp seems to be ok, I would assume that the cooling system is working. Once the timing is properly set, look for a lean condition if the overheating does not rectify itself. Good luck.

Timing is at 6* advance.
But i know there has to be something wrong, cus it just feels REALLY hot.

How do I know if its lean?
As hot as it gets (melting things), I'd say its doing it all the time, but maybe not.
I do smell a weird nasty gas smell at times.

Ok, update.
Headers glow like crazy when reved up (back cyl on dr side, and back two on ps side)!
ps side back glows even at idle. I richened the idle screws, helped some.
What should I do?

PLUS, I noticed I have spark leaking out of basicly all the plugs. Shooting out to the headers or to the block over the plugs. These are BRAND new Accel 8.8 wires and Bosch Platinum plugs. Whats going on here?

6 advance seems like it is not enough

I suggest you start with the basics and go through the engine parameters one at a time to eliminate various problems. Since you have very high underhood temps, I would first replace all the vacuum lines since by now they are probably cooked. After this, use some carb cleaner or something similar and spray around the base of the carb. If the engine rpm increases momentarily, you have a vacuum leak around the base of the carb. Do the same around the sides of the intake manifold between the edges and the valve covers. Once you are sure you don’t have a vacuum leak, you can move on to the timing.

While 6* is probably not enough to get optimum performance from your engine, it should not be retarded enough (assuming it is an accurate reading) to cause the problems you describe. Set your idle speed to something around 700 rpm, disconnect the vacuum line from the vacuum canister on the dist and plug the line. Shoot for something around 10-12 degrees for an initial setting. Reconnect the vacuum line to the canister, and readjust the idle speed to get back to where you started. Be certain you are setting the timing to “before top dead center (bdc) rather than to after dead center (adc).

Hopefully, this should help some. If you still have the problems, you should look at the carb next. The idle mixture screws only affect mixture at idle, so they need to be properly adjusted, but will not help overly lean conditions during off idle running. I am not sure what carb you have, but if using a factory Q-jet from the late 70’s, they came from the factory set very lean for emissions, and have very little adjustability built into them. Before getting into the carb, my first thought would be to borrow a known good carb from a friend and see if things improve or not.
You will need to address the electrical problems you mentioned. Although I have never used Accel wires, some here say to avoid them. As greezer suggested, you should measure their resistance to see if it is easier for the spark to jump to the header than it is to follow the wire to the plug. Electricity wants to follow the path of least resistance, so if the wires have a lot of resistance, the spark will jump. You will need to loom the wires to prevent crosstalk, but since you said that the looms were melting, I assume you have tried to do this. You should not see any spark if the electrical system is working correctly.

If the temp problem does not go away, you will have to look deeper. You said the coolant is normal, but not what you consider normal. I like to keep my engine running in the 170-180 range. If timing does not help, you might have a timing chain that has jumped a tooth, so you might think you have 6* advance, when in reality you have 12* retarded. Finally, if you see some but not all cylinders with higher temps, you might have some exhaust valves lashed too tight. I would do the easy things first, and hopefully you wont have to get too far into the engine to resolve the issue. Good luck.

if you are a female over 40 you could be experincing hot flashes,,,,,,j/k,,do as warped said,,,

Okay,
Set timing to 10 Before. Didnt help.
So I pulled the plugs, running black. Used to be running brown.
Its not the wires, the spark runs all the way down until it gets to the plug, then shoots out of the boot around the spark plugs then to the block or headers.
EGR might be plugged a little because the hose is sucked a little.
Im begining to think Im going to have to tear into this thing pretty serious.

Im guessing the plugs are running black because 99% of the spark is leaking out. But thats just my thought. When I was running stock AC plugs they would run brown, I even think the Bosches ran brown for a while.

About the headers glowing on those cylinders, I sprayed brake cleaner all over the intake and carb and no reaction. So Im begining to think the valves are either burned or tightened to tight.
No vacuum leaks that I can find at all.

Im at a loss.

Oh, Im running an Edelbrock Carb on a Performer manifold.

Sorry you haven’t made any progress. I’ve just a couple of thoughts, then I will be stumped as well.

I’m not inclined to think the carb is suspect, I have used the Edelbrock and they seem pretty good, though I could never get the choke just right. Still, if you can borrow a good carb from someone to check it out, that will be one less thing to be concerned with.

Valve lash might be an issue, but before you go into that, make an assessment of what the car is doing besides heating up. Does it start easily and run well? Has anything changed since it last ran without the heating issue? Does it smoke, burn oil, or lose coolant? If the engine seems ok otherwise, the problem might not be mechanical. Just a shot in the dark, but could you have a buildup of crud in the water jackets of the block, particularly near the back of the motor? Coolant could be circulating in the front of the motor but not be doing an adequate job of getting rid of the heat from the back cylinders. You might want to get a can of a good chemical engine flush and see what happens. If your coolant is a dirty brown this might be what is the major cause of heat soak in the engine. Good luck.