Hi,

I bought a brand new engine:
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...9&autoview=sku

What do I have to take care about, before I fire it the first time?

Do I have to adjust the valve?

Do I have to run the oil pump with a drill machine to bring the oil in all channels?

What else?

James

 

I see it says valve covers and timing cover included so it should be ready to finish assembling and run.

You should try to get some GM EOS to add to the oil for break in, not sure if they still sell that.
Use sae 30 for break in, or 15w40 rotella. Peoples opinions may vary on this.

Get everything ready to go, double and triple check that it will fire as soon as the key is turned. Then bring it up to #1 TDC, pull the distributor and prime the oiling system, you should turn the crank a 1/4 turn once, then again during priming. Then be sure you have it back to #1 TDC and put the dist back in.

Start it up and let it run between 1500 and 2000 rpm for about 20 minutes, don't let it idle, vary the engine speed from 2000 to 2500 and from 1500 to 2500 a few times during the 20 minutes.

This breaks the cam in, the cam in that engine isn't that aggresive so it should go ok.

Now you can take a break or whatever, check things out, adjust the ignition timing close.

Now take it for a test drive, if you let it cool down I'd get it back to temp by revving from idle to 1500 rpm.
Once you get test driving run it from about 1500 rpm to 3500 rpm under moderate hard acceleration, then coast back down and do it again. Make sure you don't hear detonation, if you do retard your timing a little.
Do this 20 or so times.
This breaks in the rings to the cylinders.

When you're done change the oil and filter. Set idle speed, perfect the ignition timing curve, etc. But that completes break in.

 

Exactly what he said!

 

yeah if it's a flat tappet cam then it is very important to get the engine to fire and run as soon as possible and bring the rpm's up to 2000.

what i would suggest is since it doesn't come with a distributor, hopefully you have or will buy the oil primer tool that fits down the distributor shaft.

1) check/add oil, preferably 15w40 from napa, mobil delvac, rotella. add EOS or a cam break-in supplement if you prefer. Don't use synthetic oil, it would be a complete waste of money above all at this point in time.

2) use oil prime tool and spin the oil pump to pressurize the system just before you're ready to fire it up; have an oil gauge hooked up so you know 100% there is oil pressure. In fact, pressure test it this way before you install the engine. The idea here is to pressurize the oil system and then fire up the engine as soon as possible, if you do it in the morning then get the engine started by afternoon is ok, if 2 or more days lapse then that's not good.

3) drop in the distributor, and if your good you'll be able to get timing close enough so it'll fire right up. Never spin the engine without distributor in, otherwise the oil pump won't spin = no oil pressure = dumb.

4) if you're running mechanical fuel pump & carb, you'll most likely need to spin the engine to get fuel into the carb. If you can figure a way to do this without spinning the motor then great, otherwise do this with spark plugs removed and ignition coil disabled. Should only have to spin the motor via starter for 10-20 seconds. Here is where it's important to have pressurized the oil system very recently rather than a day ago.

5) once you got fuel, hopefully you got the carb and distributor adjusted right, fire it up and get it above 1500 rpms a.s.a.p. get a timing light on it and you dust need timing between around 15 degrees btdc. as long as engine runs smooth and sounds fine, you don't need exact timing at this point. if anything a little extra timing will be higher cylinder pressures and help with ring seating. The typical cam breakin is varied around 2000 rpm for 15-30 minutes; more rpm won't hurt anything so don't be afraid to go up around 2500, that's better than near 1500.
6) After 15-20 minutes minimum of cam breakin you can then idle it down to 1000 rpm to get a better timing set, which should be 10 deg. btdc. For at least the first few hours of running, I would keep the rpms over 1500 as much as possible, this ensures good oil lubrication. Because you did the cam break-in don't think you can then letting the engine idle at 800 rpm indefinitely, that's bad. rpms = good.

 

Forgot about that. I use a small funnel that fits in the bowl vent, and a paint can cap full of gas. Right before start up pump the throttle until gas squirts out of the accelerator pump. Should start right up and be enough to run it until the pump brings more into the carb.

 

i agree completely with 9000th01ss on this part. you never want to drag the motor that long, especially a new motor that is being broken in. there is very little oil flow that way and a bigger chance of gaulding a bearing or the crank. good luck with the motor and have fun.

 

what about a roller cam?

don't you just fire it up and go to get the rings seated b/c the cam doesn't need break in

 

Yes, just fire it up, check for leaks, top off the coolant, get the timing close. Much easier.