Engine Break-in?

[jadams]

Now that I am nearly complete with my engine rebuild, I am begining to wonder what will be required in order for me to break-in the engine. The car is a track only car, and is not street legal. I just can't see me driving 1000 miles to break-in the engine before I drive it hard on the track. What have other done in the past to break-in a track-only engine?

[zip4zat]

Joel,
What ever you do, dont ask Raj. He drove the STi from the dealer lot straight to MOSPORT...

well, ok, I also just drove straight to LRP but that doesnt count..

Joe

[gread]

I once had a guy build me a 700 hp big block Chevy. He put it on the dyno, warmed the oil up to temperature and then immediately started doing 7000 rpm pulls. He said the break-in period is a myth. If it's going to fail, 90% of the time it will do it right a way and you might as well do it on the dyno instead of the track. Not many track engines see a break-in period. Look at top fuel dragsters... their only designed to run for 5-8 minutes before a tear down. How about that rebuilding tab

[Mick]

Tough one, but I'm with Greg.

If it were me I'd plan on changing the oil a couple of times just to be safe though. Until the rings are seated you're going to get some blow by.

[swinecanfly]

Joel,
What ever you do, dont ask Raj. He drove the STi from the dealer lot straight to MOSPORT...

I believe he hit 1000 miles in 2b at NHIS.

[offcamber09]

Dinosaur oil- straight to the dyno for 4-5 pulls. Change oil with more dinosaur oil and run it. Switch to synthetic oil for your second event. This was the break in for my current motor.
Glad to see you'll be back, the American muscle has been eating sourkraut so far this year in SPA.

[RyanC]

Glad to see you'll be back, the American muscle has been eating sourkraut so far this year in SPA.

...along with a tasty side dish of rice at Mosport... *giggle*

[jadams]

Well that was exact what I was hoping to hear!!! So as long as I get the engine back in the car this weekend, I will be back in business. I have been out of commission since April, and I am getting anxious to get out there, and burn up some rubber and brakes! If everything works out as planned I should have approx. 510hp, and 465ft-lbs which would respresent approx a 40 hp gain, and 50ft-lbs of max torque than previously. Keeping my fingers crossed though.....not much has been easy with this project yet to date.

[rajito]

Glad to see you'll be back, the American muscle has been eating sourkraut so far this year in SPA.

...along with a tasty side dish of rice at Mosport... *giggle*

Heeheeheeheehee! :ttiwwlt:

Poppa Swine is right - I rolled from 999 to 1000 on 2b and then figured out I shouldn't be staring at my odo of all things. I also crossed from 1999 to 2000 at Mosport but forgot to stare at my odo, looking at the turns instead, of all things. :hello2:

Raj

[jlwhorf]

When I break in a race motor, I follow the flat tappet procedure. Fill it with straight weight oil (30w), run at 2500-3000 rpm for about 20 min, as the rings seal, the rpms will rise, so I back the idle to maintain the rpm. Give it a couple of hard pulls before shut down. Dump the oil, refill 50 or 60 weight and run one race day. Dump and refill with synthetic. As for for breaking a motor on a dyno, if it blows on the dyno, it would blow on the track.

Jonathan
900 Monte Carlo PA

[jlwhorf]

Just one more thing. I read a tech bulletin on the Comp Cams website. They said that due to current emission regulation, the conventional oils today do not have the same lubrication properties as in the past. They recommend, inital startup and break in of a flat tappet cam with diesel service oil.

Jonathan
900 Monte Carlo PA