I tried the search and read the entire thread on the break in procedure for the 350z (pros and cons of either following the manual procedures or revving it to seat the piston rings), but I didn't quite find what I was looking for...

I live in Socal, but I'll be picking up my 350z up in Norcal since a dealership up there offered me an outstanding deal. I was wondering: should I drive the 400 miles back down to my place, or should I have it transported on a flatbed? Would it make any difference at all?

I don't post much, but I read up a lot here and use the search function whenever I can to avoid needless posting, but I couldn't find exactly what I needed to know... Any help would be appreciated .

 

My answer is not specific to the Z...but from what I know about motors, the highway should be fine...just try to vary the RPM's some. Switch it up (5&6th gear and speed) every so often...maybe every 20-30 minutes?

 

yea just try to vary the rpms as much as possible and dont always necessarily follow the under 4k rpms at all times.

 

Yup, just be sure to alter the rpm and speed, then you should be ok

 

You cannot vary the rpms enough on the freeway. You should constantly be rowing through the gears and doing a lot of downshifting to aid in proper break-in. I cannot emphasize how important both of these processes are so if I were you I'd take some type of scenic route down to LA instead of the highway or partially scenic if you can.

 

I did a lot of highway mileage than when I bought mine in St Louis and drove it to Nashville. I just went from 6th to 5th and back on occasion. Probably not the best way to break in, but most likely didn't hurt much, either.

 

Thanks for all the responses. I was actually kind of worried about that too, whether or not I'd be able to vary the RPM's much on the freeway by going back from 5th and 6th (and if that small change in RPMs would make that much of a difference). For those of you familiar with California, the freeway would be the 101... so it does have some curves here and there, but for a lot of it, it's pretty straight.

Jet_M3, you said that you can't emphasize enough the importance of varying RPMs. Would it just be better to have the car transported down on a flatbed? I guess my question would be: are 400 initial freeway miles bad enough to warrant a flatbed transportation? I know that it probably wouldn't be the best way to break in a car, but would I be able to "make it up" somehow as soon as I got back home?