New Engine Break In at home?
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From: under a JEGS hat
New Engine Break In at home? Hey guys, my car has been down for a few months undergoing a forged motor rebuild. I plan to do first start-up and break-in at home in a few days. I am mainly wondering about these things:
1) Is it fine to start it up and idle it for about 10 minutes to burp the air out of the cooling system? I'm worried about the time window for seating the rings.
2) How do I get the rings seated without a dyno? Just go find a piece of pavement (I live 2 blocks down a dirt road) and do WOT pulls, or what?
3) Is there a time limit to seating the rings that I need to get the process done by (as far as motor run time)?
1) Is it fine to start it up and idle it for about 10 minutes to burp the air out of the cooling system? I'm worried about the time window for seating the rings.
2) How do I get the rings seated without a dyno? Just go find a piece of pavement (I live 2 blocks down a dirt road) and do WOT pulls, or what?
3) Is there a time limit to seating the rings that I need to get the process done by (as far as motor run time)?
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From: under a JEGS hat
One of my friends answered...
1) Yes. 5-10 minutes idling for coolant de-bubbling procedure
2) put the 4L60E in 3rd, find some pavement and get rolling at 2k RPM in 3rd, go moderate throttle (1/2-3/4) up to 4500 RPM, let off the gas back down to near-idle, repeat 4x, park and leave it in idle for a "cool down" period, then get going again in 3rd at 2k, and go WOT until 6k, release gas pedal till 2k RPM cruising then repeat 3-4x or until smoke seems to have been minimized, do another cooldown period.
3) Yes, but no specifics were given.
Thoughts? Sounds like a decent plan to me.
1) Yes. 5-10 minutes idling for coolant de-bubbling procedure
2) put the 4L60E in 3rd, find some pavement and get rolling at 2k RPM in 3rd, go moderate throttle (1/2-3/4) up to 4500 RPM, let off the gas back down to near-idle, repeat 4x, park and leave it in idle for a "cool down" period, then get going again in 3rd at 2k, and go WOT until 6k, release gas pedal till 2k RPM cruising then repeat 3-4x or until smoke seems to have been minimized, do another cooldown period.
3) Yes, but no specifics were given.
Thoughts? Sounds like a decent plan to me.
any good tuner can break the engine in on the dyno. but if he lives far away than i would suggest idleing the car for 20 minutes and varying the rpm after getting to opperating temp. shut the car down drain the oil and look for metal shavings or anything out of the ordinary. refill with new filter then test drive. if everything feels normal then make a few pulls to around 4k and let the car get back down to idle under its own power. repeat 10 times. try this going down hill. DO NOT LUG the car at low rpm during break in and definetly dont redline it either until its fully broken in. change the oil at 500 and 2k miles with non synthetic oil with a zinc additive or break in oil. after 2k drive it like you normal would and feel free to use synthetic.
Here is what I did for my 347.
Unplugged injectors, and coil packs. Then turned the motor over 2X @ 15sec each. That should get you some oil through out the block and at least up to one head. Just make sure you used plenty of assembly lube.
Anyways after priming the oil system I made sure the coolant was topped off and the oil was good. I hooked back up injectors and coil packs. Then started it and let it run for 10-15min letting it idle. Then I shut it off, and checked all fluids again. Once everything looked good I took it down the road and did a nice 1-2-3 gear punch. But I also already had a cam only tune in it so I knew it was pretty close and not going to hurt it.
If you still have a stock tune and you have added a cam and bolt ons and heads then ya you need to either hit up frost to get you a tune to get you by, or trailer it to a nearby dyno and tuner.
Unplugged injectors, and coil packs. Then turned the motor over 2X @ 15sec each. That should get you some oil through out the block and at least up to one head. Just make sure you used plenty of assembly lube.
Anyways after priming the oil system I made sure the coolant was topped off and the oil was good. I hooked back up injectors and coil packs. Then started it and let it run for 10-15min letting it idle. Then I shut it off, and checked all fluids again. Once everything looked good I took it down the road and did a nice 1-2-3 gear punch. But I also already had a cam only tune in it so I knew it was pretty close and not going to hurt it.
If you still have a stock tune and you have added a cam and bolt ons and heads then ya you need to either hit up frost to get you a tune to get you by, or trailer it to a nearby dyno and tuner.
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You need a couple of heat cycles on your valvesprings. 1rst start, 2000 rpms until oil is at operating temps, then walk away until it's completely cold. Then take it for a drive varying the rpms, increasing load progressively, making sure to do in gear decellerations as well. Let it sit again, replace the oil and filter. Then take it out and flog it, accelerating and decellerating.
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From: under a JEGS hat
1) My valve springs are used Patriot .660"s with a few thousand miles on them. They should already be heat cycled.
2) My friend is a well-known local tuner and loaded a base tune on my PCM. It was based off a similar cam to what I have, and modified for break-in purposes (22* timing, 6k RPM redline, injector data, etc.)
3) The nearest dyno tuner is about 100 miles from the car.
4) The motor is a forged pistons/rods 347 that I've been building for a while.
Hope this helps. Thanks for the input so far!
2) My friend is a well-known local tuner and loaded a base tune on my PCM. It was based off a similar cam to what I have, and modified for break-in purposes (22* timing, 6k RPM redline, injector data, etc.)
3) The nearest dyno tuner is about 100 miles from the car.
4) The motor is a forged pistons/rods 347 that I've been building for a while.
Hope this helps. Thanks for the input so far!
Last edited by ZexGX; May 19, 2011 at 10:14 AM.
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