I will be firing my motor for the first time very soon after its been rebuilt. is there a certain procedure that I need to follow. All I have heard so far is to unplug my ignition coils and crank it with the starter for 40 seconds or so, let the starter cool off and then do it again. Then plug the coils back in and fire her up. Any tips or ideas ?

 

damn in the good ol days we left the distributor out and spun the oil pump with a drill.id pull the ignition-ecu fuse and also put some oil down in the cylinders first(not too much)and crank for a few seconds........hopefully a lot of break in lube was put on the main,rod and cam bearings and lobes 1st.id also pm sharif or some of the engine builders first though.

 

Reason for that is to curculate the oil---Good idea but with all the assy Lube thats in there ---No huge deal---Main thing is, if u got new Cams, Start it, CHK UR OIL PRESSURE then keep it at 12-1500 or so RPMS for a few minutes to break in the cams---and other things --Mainly Cams ---Let it get to temp to make sure ur themostat is doing its job---Shut it down --Let it cool down a little and do it again----Then, Off u go ---Dont Baby it ---Other wise it will grow up a baby ---Just be cool for awhile

 

Unplug your fuel pump connector, or pull the fuse. I presume at this point, that shop will have already checked for fuel leaks prior to starting up the engine.

Crank the engine 3 times for 5 second each time...no need to crank it excessively, as there will be little lubrication in the engine. You just want to start the circulation of oil through the system.

Then fire it up. Watch the oil pressure level closely, and within 3-4 seconds, it should immediately built oil pressure and you are good to go.

At that point, you'll probably spend the next 30 mins checking for more leaks, and purging the cooling system. Best of luck.

 

Works like a charm!

 

+1 for your first 100 miles or so, let the rpms get around 4500 and do alot of coasting. throttle closed or a decel condition will help seat the rings better and faster by putting more pressure due to vacuum on the rings. don't need to worry much about cam break in on the newer stuff with billet cams. after that, change the oil then give'er hell. if it's gunna break, it will do it whether you baby it or not, lol.
the oil you put into it first should be a regular organic 10/40. you will get better friction to help seat everything, if you use synthetic first, you will lessen your chances of the rings seating properly or completely. hit the synthetic on your first oil change.
under a microscope, the machining processes will look like ridges and valleys, a light break in will only knock off the ridges, and leave the valleys. making complete break in alot longer, or not possible at all.

 

Thanks for all the info so far guys.

I am not doing this at a shop, its actually at my house in the garage. I have a few other questions regarding fuel and oil guys.

1. My car has been sitting for over a year, i'm sure all the lines are dry so how do I get the fuel up to the rails again. I know older cars have issues with vaccum. Will I need to do something to get the fuel back up to the engine bay

2. The fuel has sat for a year like I said. Should I drain it out or do anything else special?

3. Are you saying change the oil after 100 miles

4. Is there a way to prime the oil pump ? Everyone tells me to primie it but I think that is a "old car" kind of thing

5. I am going from 10.3 CR to 8.8 and there will be no boost (no F/I yet). I will be running 87 octane to compensate but am still worried. Any thoughts?

6. I hear its going to sound kind of rough at first, how long do I wait before I shut the motor down because something is wrong?

Thanks again guys. I've never been so scared in my life about something. I've put too much $ in this car so far to have something go wrong

 

The old fuel should make no difference...there is zero load on the engine at startup, so you'll be fine.

Before disabling your fuel pump, turn the key to the on position, and listen for the pump. once it shuts off, key-off for about 10 seconds, and key-on again. You need to cycle the pump a few times in order to get fuel to the rails. Have someone check for leaks while doing this. Once you are certain you have fuel pressure at the rails, and there are no leaks, you can disable the pump, and crank it over as I described above.

Just keep your eye on your oil pressure and dashboard. It's very common to get a CEL on startup, so dont be worried.

At this point, if you messed something up...it will be too late anyways...so relax!

 

1. There is no test port on the Z so I believe that just cycling the ign. sw a couple of times should prime.

2. How much is in it ? --If ur at 1/2 or so ---just top it of with some 89+----Fact ur down to 8.8:1 helps here

3.Personally I change it after an hour or two of driving---But a 100 is fine.

4. As Sharif said as far as pulling the Pump Fuse---Thats it ---No fuel,No Start---But Lubrication of the system

5. 87 will be fine @ 8.8:1 IMO----But a higher octane initially to compensate for older fuel thats in the tank.

6. I dont know why it should be to rough too long--ur Comp will be busy logging info and giving instructions. Maybe 30 secs til the fuel lines purge and everything is finding its way home, Important thing is Oil Pressure, and making sure ur quick connects on ur fuel lines are snapped tite. If thats cool, take it around the blk, purge ur coolent again when u get back, and chk again for leaks.

 

I was just watching that episode of American Chopper where they started up their supercharged "shelby" chopper ... oil was at freezing temps and 60W, therefore they couldn't pump it, and the brand new motor was starved of oil... despite their oil problems they ran it at full load on the dyno without breaking it in. ruined a brand new motor

 

Ok here is the latest update.... Motor wont start

I turned it over for 2 20 second durations. No abnormal sounds. Put the spark back on and tried to start her up. No luck. Not even a sputter. I am going to check to make sure I have fuel and spark but after that...... I have no idea how to troubleshoot. Another thing is when i put the car in the "on" mode, all the stuff lights up in the car but for some reason my radiator fan turns on. Why the heck is it doing that. Another thing to mention is that I stored the car last September with a FULL tank of gas, I'm talking FULL. Put the car in accessory mode and the tank reads less than 3/4.

Any thoughts. What a disappointing night. Worked till 3:30 am to get everything on and she didn’t fire

 

I wonder if it could have anything to do with the vehicle immobilizer. (more likely it's a fuel or spark problem though?)

Are the fuel pumps getting pressure? Maybe they need to be primed...

What have you done in terms of ECU mods? Is the stock ECU still present?

As for the radiator fans, if the coolant temp sensor is reading zero voltage, it will assume the coolant is overheating.

Check the voltage signal from the coolant temp sensor.

 

maybe because there isnt any coolant touching the sensor at the moment since the car hasn't started yet ?

I am going to check spark and fuel tonight if I can. Its snowing in MI already, guess I have to turn on the heater tonight.

 

Do this with the spark plugs out of the motor. This will allow the starter to spin the motor faster and easier, building oil pressure faster.

 

If the fan comes on with the key, you have a problem. A critical connector is not plugged in, or you have blown a critical engine fuse. When you goto key on, the CEL should be illuminated, and the fan should NOT come on.

Check your CEL...I bet it is not on with the key on.

 

check your ECU connectors. I had the same problem (no start and fan running) when I first installed my UTEC. Irechecked the connectors on the ecu/utec harness. It turned out that one of the connectors was not fully seated.

 

it was the ecu connector. the grey latch wasnt on all the way. I am getting fuel pressure now but now i got a small leak on my nitrous line connector. I need someone to hold the fitting while I tighten it but nobody is around Guess I have to wait. Thanks for the help guys I will keep you all updated.

 

Great news! Congrats! That stupid ECU connector can be very tricky

 

ok everyone the car has started. at first it was clanking around quite a bit but shes all quiet now. A problem i am running into is that when i am driving and then pop the clutch in and coast to a stop, the car dies. any thoughts?

 

If u got almost 0 miles on it ---Give the Comp a little time to process data