Rebuilt engine questions
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On The Tree
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From: Upstate New York
Rebuilt engine questions Hey guys, I hope this is the right spot for this thread but I'm about to get my rebuilt engine back from the machine shop. The thing is this is a swap from a 5.3 to a 6.0 with an aftermarket cam. My questions are how do you all break your engines in, which I'm sure has been discussed, but the twist on my question is what should I do differently being as I'm still going to have to make a tune for the engine.
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Discuss this with your PCM tuner person. Tell him everything about changes to displacement - 5.3 liters to 6.0 liters. Also, the specifications to your new cam. What you absolutely want to avoid is running your engine too lean. Running lean = running too hot. Consider using a wideband air-to-fuel ratio meter in your system to insure that you are not running lean. You can melt holes in piston tops running too lean.
After that, if you are worried about what oil to use . . . follow the advice of your engine rebuilder.
Rick
After that, if you are worried about what oil to use . . . follow the advice of your engine rebuilder.
Rick
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I would not run it without the tune correct to new specs. I ran a bottle of break in oil with 5 quarts of Advance regular 5/30 oil. Got it running and able to idle, drove it around 10-15 minutes, come back check everything out, let it cool down some, drove it around 20-30 minutes, no WOT runs but went up to 70 mph, check it out again and then changed oil & filter, again regular 5/30, did some WOT runs, put about 500 miles on that then went to synthetic 5/30. Still running strong, about 8k miles.
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On The Tree
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From: Upstate New York
Well the thing about that is I am my pcm tuner person haha. I was planning to do the majority of this on my own. Although I guess if I had to I could delegate the base tune to someone else. Okay cool, I wasn't sure how well the break in additive worked and if I should try to find high zinc oil or just use that
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From: Upstate New York
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I’ve always started them ran between 1500-2000 fluctuating some for about 10 minutes dropped oil ran normal no beating for a 150 miles or so change again then start Letting it decel at a higher rpm. I would be more concerned with tuning it than a break in procedure. Your not gonna directly junk anything driving it normally on the stock tune if the injectors haven’t been swapped. It may not run good but it shouldn’t hurt anything I’ve drove 5 hours on a stock tune with a cam. Heavy throttle is what that’s harmful. Lower Rpm will kick rich and upper rpm will go lean with the cam
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[QUOTE=Kevin Fodge Jr.;20003374]Hey guys, I hope this is the right spot for this thread but I'm about to get my rebuilt engine back from the machine shop. The thing is this is a swap from a 5.3 to a 6.0 with an aftermarket cam. My questions are how do you all break your engines in, which I'm sure has been discussed, but the twist on my question is what should I do differently being as I'm still going to have to make a tune for the engine.[/QUOTE
We see more people burning them down from non tuning than having seizures from a new engine. That being said, new factory shortblock clearances are tight and you just need to baby it for 200 miles and doing an oil change before taking it to the tuner to lean on.
We see more people burning them down from non tuning than having seizures from a new engine. That being said, new factory shortblock clearances are tight and you just need to baby it for 200 miles and doing an oil change before taking it to the tuner to lean on.
Last edited by Summitracing; Nov 18, 2018 at 07:04 PM.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2018
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From: Upstate New York
Thanks for all the help guys. So it seems like the general concensus is to break it in first and then worry about the tune. So that's what I'll do, thanks again guys! I'm sure I'll be back with more questions
I wouldn’t want it stupidly rich the first time starting it and bringing it up to temp though.
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On The Tree
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From: Upstate New York
Do you still have the factory tune? What is the cam? If you changed the cam and have the factory tune I'd be concerned it's way to rich at idle which is bad during break in.
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