Too lean, or just needs shielded wires?

[donraye]

Hi all, I just installed my newly built (by me) 418 stroker in my Cobra and today I tried starting it up for the first time. A couple of nasty things happened that made me stop.
One: I had a lower water hose clamp failure that dumped the entire cooling system all over my garage floor when the hose came flying off. That one was an easy although messy fix.
Two: I fixed the hose problem and started the engine again. I planned to run it for about 20-30 ninutes at 2,000 to break in the cam, etc. But after only about 4 nimutes it started to run/miss bably so I turned it off to check it. All the gauges were OK while it was running and oil pressure and temp. were good.
When I checked it out further I was shocked to see that the heat from the exhaust manifold had actually fried three of the plug wires which were closest to the manifold so badly that they were actually turning to dust! One had already come apart and the insulation was gone from about the first 3 inches and the plug boot was almost completely melted/dusted away. The other two of the three were not far behind that point
These are the same plug wires I had only recently put on the 351W I had in this car before the stroker, and they only have a few hundred miles on them. Obviously since the manifold and the wires and their position to each other are the same, it has to be that this engine is producing a LOT more heat than the 351W did.
Is this normal to produce a lot more heat in a 550HP 418 than in the 300HP351 at the exhaust manifold?
I have not changed the carbureter jetting yet as I was going to have it Dyno Tuned next week and leave that up to my engine builder/mechanic friend. But it was actually running a bit rich on the old 351 so I have a hard time believing it could now be so lean as to cause oveheating in only 4 minutes or less!? Could it be that lean, and if so dare I run this engine again at all until it goes to the dyno for tuning?
I am getting a new much better set of wires and I'm getting both "aluminum plug boot heat shields" AND "1,200 degree heat barrier fiberglass 6" boot/wire covers" for them as well.
That should take care of the melting plug wires but now I'm concerned about even running the engine at all until at the shop/Dyno. Should I just pay to have it put on a flat bed and taken over there, or should I try it again with the new heat shielded wires and boots.
I do not want to burn the exhaust valves or put a hole in the piston before I get it dialed in on the dyno.
Do any of you high horsepower guys have to use heat shielding on your plug boots/wires from extreme heat at the manifold? This manifold is VERY close to the wires on those three cylinders but was not a problem in the old 351 at 300HP although one of them was discolored from heat there as well..
This 418 is closer to 550HP and perhaps the old wire set was just simply not good enough for this much engine.
Any thoughts?
Don