While the break in debate rages on (I drove mine pretty hard right from the beginning) I found the article on AMG engine assembly in the new Car and Driver to be pretty revealing. All AMG engines are assembled by one person from start to finish. If there is a QC issue, the same tech has to disassemble the engine and repair it. Once the virgin engine passes QC, it it shipped across the street where it is immediately dyno'd all the way to redline. That's right, brand new fresh motor taken all the way to redline by the factory and then given a full warranty. What do you think?

 

Amen! That's the way to do it. I think there are a few car companies that do that. I heard a rumor that all the Type-Rs were run through the dyno upon completion.

 

It's important for AMG to deliver on what they promise for upwards of $60K.

FYI, the 1st year Jaguar R1 race engines blew me away the first time I went to the US Grand Prix. They would fire the engine, run near redline, maybe 17,000 rpm for 3 seconds, and then shut them down before restarting a few minutes later. I was told that they had to do that in order to properly circulate the oil. I was like, Whoa, that's so kewl!

Talk about break-in...

 

I also have questions about that. I will be purchasing my Z from LA and then driving 1100 miles almost immediately back to my home in VA. I have seeb mixed comments....what should i do for a break-in?

 

Yep. IIRC, a similar process was performed on Z32's at the factory and I'd hazzard a guess the same is performed on 350's.

Michael.

 

Vary your RPM's every so often, either by varying your speed or by going back and forth from 6th to 5th, etc., (assuming you have the 6MT), or both.

WayneTN

 

Well, that's certainly an interesting bit of information! And it definitely adds fuel to the fire!

 

You certainly get what you pay for!

 

But there is a big difference between running it to redline in this way vs. running your car to redline.

When you drive your car you are placing load on the engine, which is what pushes the car down the street. When AMG runs their engine to redline, they have no load on the engine, so they have nothing to worry about.

No load means no strain on the engine. Driving down the street places load on the engine, so there is not much comparison between what AMG does and us driving our cars during breakin.

 

Please tell me how you dyno a car without putting a load on it?

 

I would agree with you Raceboy, as I took mine over 4000 a few times before 1200 miles and my engine is running very nicely. I still don't see why Nissan would have do something that is unnecessary; not only have us do it, but my dealer made a point to remind more than once not to exceed 4000 RPMs during break-in.

 

They hook the bare engine up only ie its not in the frame of the car.

 

Uh, you couldn't measure the power output without a load on it. All you could measure would be things like rpm's, intake cfm, fuel flow, but not power. Think about it. You can't tell how strong someone is by just looking at them or having them flex their muscles. They have to actually lift weights to test their strength. To get power and torque off of a dyno, the engine has to be loaded.

WayneTN

 

Of course they attach the crank directly to the dyno....

Porsche does the same thing. Any engine that does not fall within a certain percentage point ( I believe its 3%) gets sent back.

 

I think you are missing it. Ezee said what AMG was doing was different because they were not putting a load on the engine. I said of course they are putting a load on the engine because they are dynoing it for a HP reading.

 

So, it may be okay to run the engine during the first 1200 miles.... but would it be BAD to keep the engine under 4000rpm during those first 1200 miles?

 

I think the loading point goes "load on engine for dyno" stop & "loading the engine when driving, hauling the car around"...two different loads here. AMG had no extra weight to pull around so it was ok to run it up to redline. On the street its a different story, but I think straight out of the dealer you should run it HARD for proper ring sealing.....

This is the way to break in an engine and I have been doing it like this and no problems!