New build first start questions
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Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Illinois
New build first start questions Alrighty everyone finally finished the motor and put it in and started it. The car had a tune on it before mostly street tune for 1.8 rockers with ls6 cam and stock heads and stuff.....
changed the motor to a brand new one. an iron 5.3 truck block bored to 5.7 with stock crank rods and forged pistons for an ls1. and also changed heads to 241 heads and a 228r camshaft from texas speed, UDP, new lifters, new lifter trays, new 1.7 rockers from harland sharp, new 650 lift springs.
It started and ran and chugged obviously idles rough on it own, and it dies when i turn the wheel and seems to have a lot of smoke from the tail pipe but im guessing cuz the car is freaking out and is running rich coupled with its 25 degrees outside haha. but it drove down the road and shifted through all 4 gears and locked the converter. oil pressure is great and everything. My question is does this all sound normal and that I just need a tune?
changed the motor to a brand new one. an iron 5.3 truck block bored to 5.7 with stock crank rods and forged pistons for an ls1. and also changed heads to 241 heads and a 228r camshaft from texas speed, UDP, new lifters, new lifter trays, new 1.7 rockers from harland sharp, new 650 lift springs.
It started and ran and chugged obviously idles rough on it own, and it dies when i turn the wheel and seems to have a lot of smoke from the tail pipe but im guessing cuz the car is freaking out and is running rich coupled with its 25 degrees outside haha. but it drove down the road and shifted through all 4 gears and locked the converter. oil pressure is great and everything. My question is does this all sound normal and that I just need a tune?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Illinois
well i ment like at this cold u can see the smoke, its not like its 70 degrees and smoke is billowing out of the tail pipe. It doesnt smell like oil, it looks normal colored a tad grey ish white ish, i keep checking oil levels and its not burning any, and my coolant is staying the same. Just was making sure this stuff was all normal.
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Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Illinois
a brand new engine, driving untuned? i hope it was broke in properly so the rings could seal before you went dumping excessive amounts of fuel into the cylinders, washing down the cylinder walls.
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Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
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From: Illinois
well how else am i supposed to break it in and drive it lightly? i literally drove it 1 mile around the block. the rest was just idling. Your supposed to drive about 300 miles or so before u really start ripping the motor. So bringing it to the dyno right now would not be a good thing with everything from springs to the cam to the pistons being new
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well how else am i supposed to break it in and drive it lightly? i literally drove it 1 mile around the block. the rest was just idling. Your supposed to drive about 300 miles or so before u really start ripping the motor. So bringing it to the dyno right now would not be a good thing with everything from springs to the cam to the pistons being new
you are supposed to beat the crap out of the engine.. rev it hard...drive it hard... seat the rings with combustion pressure...from the first start.... just get it up to full operating temperatures first before going WOT
cant seat it and seal it any other way...
taking it to the dyno right away will help greatly in the break in and seating process...
the more you "baby" it.. the more oil consumption you will have down the road
I would expect smoke for the first 500~1000 miles until all of the parts get broken in sufficiently
I learned from more than a decade and a half of racing....the engines that help up the best and made the best power were the ones I beat on immediately... you only get about 20~30 miles of hard driving to get the rings to seat properly... this usually equates to the first 15~30 minutes of the first start.
with fully functioning o2 sensors, anything part throttle will correct the fueling to stoic...so you dont really have to worry about dumping a bunch of fuel past the rings or washing down the cylinders at part throttle... but you cant get a good seat of the rings at part throttle...and you cant really do too much WOT with tuning it to get a decent and safe A/F ratio
on a new engine, a little lean is ok... really rich is not
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Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
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From: Illinois
I did that just now got on her hard and she spun so I got out and back in and it seemed to pull back a little and would miss a little under part throttle in 2 or 3rd gear. Seem normal?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
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From: Illinois
That's what I thought. I mean the car doesn't have any drips that I can see.... It shifted good and went into lock up but misfired in lock up and part throttle wide open seemed
Good for the first few seconds
Good for the first few seconds
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Illinois
I'm guessing it missed in lock up because it dropped the rpm to like 1700 at 35 mph and thats close to the point when it gets choppy and flutters when I'm letting off the gas to go to idle
The tuner doesn't want to see it until all the mechanical bugs have been eliminated and you cannot tell if the mechanical bugs are gone until it is tuned.
This is the conundrum one encounters with do-it-yourself engine builds.
This is the conundrum one encounters with do-it-yourself engine builds.
Last edited by Darkman; Nov 28, 2010 at 09:37 PM.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Illinois
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 29
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From: Columbus Indiana
Dont be a baby and drive the thing, the only way to brake it in is to drive it. How far away is the tuner. I would say drive it to the tuner and get it done. Or just go carbureted then you can tune it yourself.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 66
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From: Illinois
***** I hate u..... I wish I wasnt on this forum during class with u