I just had my L82 350 converted to a 383 stroker with roller cam and aluminum heads. The Compression ratio is now 10.4 to 1.

After about 20 minutes of street driving the water temp settles at about 225 degrees F which seems high to me. Also when I shut the car off and then try and start it, say 10 minutes later, it cranks and cranks before starting. I have total timing set at 35 degrees at 2500 rpm which produces about 4 degrees BTDC at idle 900 rpm. If the timing is off does it cause the hard starting and or high water temp.? If so what would be the recommended timing for this set up?  What water temperatures are some of you stroker owners running?

any help is appreciated.

My experience with timing is that too much advance will cause hard starting and retarded timing will cause it to run a little warmer. How did you arrive at the timing of 4 degrees at idle? I assume that's with the vacuum advance disconnected.

4 degrees btdc is definitely going to make it run hotter than it should. You need to bring the timing up to 8-9 at least. I would first suggest you contact the engine builder(if possible) and find out their recommendations on that. With your compression ratio, assuming it is accurate, you may need to use a higher octane fuel to run more timing advance....which will probably help with the hot start issue.

After shutting the car off is the carb HOT to the touch?  If so fuel in the bowl could be boiling producing vapor lock.  I had that hot start issue with "The Toy" and after putting a Mr Gasket "sandwich" set of spacers between the carb and the intake the carb never got more than warm to the touch.  Just a thought.

The engine builder recommended 8 BTDC initial and 35 @ 2500 rpm total timing. At the 8 initial ( were I'm getting the over heating and hard starting)the total timing was way advanced of the 35 degree total desired. If I set the total at the recommended 35 then the initial works out to 4 degrees.  I will take it for a test run today and see how that works out.  I'm nerves with the 4 degrees. I don't want to hurt the motor or valve train as I have too much money in this motor already.

This is with the a pugged vacuum line.

If the heat riser valve is still in the exhaust system, check to see if it's stuck closed.

If 8 degrees advance at idle gives you too much advance at higher RPMs then you might check to see if you can get a different set of centrifugal advance weights for the distributor.

Is it safe to assume that the radiator is clean and all of the seals are in place around it and on top of the radiator and also the fan is working properly?

thanks, I'll check out the weights in the distributor. The aluminum radiator and duel electric fans are pretty new and fans are functioning properly. I have ceramic coated headers on it with no exhaust valve. Thanks for advise.

Are you using ported vacuum or manifold vacuum for your advance?  I'm using manifold vacuum with an MSD distributor and I'm running about 16 degrees btdc. 

I also blocked off the exhaust crossover at the intake manifold gaskets.

Here's a couple of good threads on timing, vacuum, and carb adjustments. Both have excellent info from super knowledgeable folks.

Timing info 1

Timing info 2

Another potential timing problem is having too light of a spring on the distributor centrifugal advance weights. What can happen if it's too light is that it will start advancing at idle speeds which makes it very difficult to both set the idle and the timing.