break-in time??

[elongoria]

I've heard different stories on breaking a rebuilt engine and first oil change... are there anyreal guidelines??

[The King]

The standard advice I always followed was to run at variable RPM, including of course some high RPM driving, and to change the oil after the first 1000 miles.

[Mach1]

Everyone has their own idea of how to break in an engine based on what their father told them, manufacturer suggestions, half-remembered lore and best guesses. Our break in procedure was developed from talking to other engine builders, piston and ring manufacturers. It works quite well in our experience.

All engines are shipped dry. Double check the oil drain plug, install a new quality oil filter and fill the engine with straight 30 wt detergent oil. We recommend a change of oil and filter after 25-50 miles, again using straight 30 wt. If you plan to switch to synthetic oil, please wait for at least 1,000 miles.

Use all new coolant lines and clamps to avoid leaks.

Mix anti-freeze and water at the minimum concentration to get the freeze protection that you require. Water transfers heat much better than anti-freeze. Not a bad idea to check or replace the radiator cap while you’re at it, as most of the ones we test fail a pressure test miserably. Jacking the nose of the car up while filling with coolant ensures that the fill point is the high point of the system.

Make sure you have all your ground wires hooked up! Missing grounds can make smoke come out of expensive places.

Have your timing light already hooked up before starting the engine and have an assistant watch for leaks while you start the engine for the first time. We pack the oil pump with engine lube, so oil pressure should come up very quickly. Start the car, watch for oil pressure while your assistant looks for leaks of any kind. Fuel leaks can be especially unpleasant.

Once you have verified oil pressure and no leaks (or fixed any leaks), set your ignition timing while the car is warming up.

Do not let the car sit and idle for a long time. Once you’ve got timing set, no leaks and everything sounds and looks good, take the car out on the road.

Keep in mind that there really shouldn’t be any metal to metal contact happening within your engine, other than the rings to the cylinder walls. The rings are the ONLY things we are interested in breaking in or seating. What seats rings is cylinder pressure. Rings and pistons are designed so that cylinder pressure sneaks behind the compression rings and forces them out against the newly honed cylinder wall. Why do I mention this? Because I want you to take your warmed up car out on the road, find a nice straight stretch and do a couple of heavy throttle runs in third or fourth gear from about 2500-5500 rpm. Each time you hit 5500-6000 rpm, snap your foot off the gas and let the car coast down to 2500 rpm while in gear, to pull high vacuum in the cylinders. Repeat this step about five times and you should have a nicely mated set of rings and cylinders. NOTE: When I say “heavy throttle”, I am referring to a normally aspirated engine. For a turbo or supercharged car, modulate the throttle to achieve about zero on your boost gauge, rather than full throttle. This would be roughly equivalent to full throttle in a normally aspirated car.

Take it home, recheck for leaks, make sure fans work, etc and then change the oil.

Once you have done the ring seating, try to control yourself (or at least your right foot) for a few hundred miles, no full throttle, try to vary rpm on the highway and no revving to the limiter.

That’s it! Have fun!

[shumpertdavid]

Pretty sound advice unless it's got a flat tappet cam.

[elongoria]

Thanks a lot!!

[Grape]

this is how we break them in............

http://youtu.be/qNj2wM-sUAM

[Kart21]

Everyone has their own idea of how to break in an engine based on what their father told them, manufacturer suggestions, half-remembered lore and best guesses. Our break in procedure was developed from talking to other engine builders, piston and ring manufacturers. It works quite well in our experience.

All engines are shipped dry. Double check the oil drain plug, install a new quality oil filter and fill the engine with straight 30 wt detergent oil. We recommend a change of oil and filter after 25-50 miles, again using straight 30 wt. If you plan to switch to synthetic oil, please wait for at least 1,000 miles.

Use all new coolant lines and clamps to avoid leaks.

Mix anti-freeze and water at the minimum concentration to get the freeze protection that you require. Water transfers heat much better than anti-freeze. Not a bad idea to check or replace the radiator cap while you’re at it, as most of the ones we test fail a pressure test miserably. Jacking the nose of the car up while filling with coolant ensures that the fill point is the high point of the system.

Make sure you have all your ground wires hooked up! Missing grounds can make smoke come out of expensive places.

Have your timing light already hooked up before starting the engine and have an assistant watch for leaks while you start the engine for the first time. We pack the oil pump with engine lube, so oil pressure should come up very quickly. Start the car, watch for oil pressure while your assistant looks for leaks of any kind. Fuel leaks can be especially unpleasant.

Once you have verified oil pressure and no leaks (or fixed any leaks), set your ignition timing while the car is warming up.

Do not let the car sit and idle for a long time. Once you’ve got timing set, no leaks and everything sounds and looks good, take the car out on the road.

Keep in mind that there really shouldn’t be any metal to metal contact happening within your engine, other than the rings to the cylinder walls. The rings are the ONLY things we are interested in breaking in or seating. What seats rings is cylinder pressure. Rings and pistons are designed so that cylinder pressure sneaks behind the compression rings and forces them out against the newly honed cylinder wall. Why do I mention this? Because I want you to take your warmed up car out on the road, find a nice straight stretch and do a couple of heavy throttle runs in third or fourth gear from about 2500-5500 rpm. Each time you hit 5500-6000 rpm, snap your foot off the gas and let the car coast down to 2500 rpm while in gear, to pull high vacuum in the cylinders. Repeat this step about five times and you should have a nicely mated set of rings and cylinders. NOTE: When I say “heavy throttle”, I am referring to a normally aspirated engine. For a turbo or supercharged car, modulate the throttle to achieve about zero on your boost gauge, rather than full throttle. This would be roughly equivalent to full throttle in a normally aspirated car.

Take it home, recheck for leaks, make sure fans work, etc and then change the oil.

Once you have done the ring seating, try to control yourself (or at least your right foot) for a few hundred miles, no full throttle, try to vary rpm on the highway and no revving to the limiter.

That’s it! Have fun!

Damn, that's a really good explanation !

Grape, what kinda car does that motor go in ? 15K Break in !!! I just get the kart to run to 15.5 after a good run.

[White90GT]

Race motor or daily driver? If daily driver, do what the long explanation above says LOL. If race motor, get it fired up, set timing, check for leaks, idle it at varying RPMs with a few higher rpm pulls/revs, take it down the road and lay into it a little bit a few times, bring it back home and change the oil/filter. Cut open filter, check for major metal particulates, put it on the trailer and take it to the track and beat on it!

[racrguy]

Damn, that's a really good explanation !

Grape, what kinda car does that motor go in ? 15K Break in !!! I just get the kart to run to 15.5 after a good run.

Motorcycle engine, probably going in a mini-sprint. With the engines for my car I dyno them to get the A/F right and then hammer on them on the track, no pussy footing around with these things.

[elongoria]

Its a daily

[Mysticcobrakilla]

Its a daily

Drive it.

[robert]

Ask the engine builder

[elongoria]

Had a falling out with him. Hoping I didn't get the shaft in the end.

[JETFAST]

Take it to the line, burn~out, stage it, stand on the cut, and pull the trigger.

[91CoupeMike]

People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them to do this. They are convinced that it needs to be taken easy and avoid high rpm.