To all of you who have already have internals installed or who got in the Group Buy . How will you break in your new rings a few questions.

1. Will you boost at all on your fresh engines or wait at least 500-1000 miles for rings to seat? Nobody wants the dreaded blowby on brand new rings?

2. When you do boost what will you start at 6lbs and drive on it a while before cranking up boost?

3. Is the break in different for those who went with stock bore then those who went .20 over?

I know its going to be hard for those with bullet proof bottoms not to crank it up ,but like GQ mentioned I think everyone only wants to build their engine once.
Also can you please quote any estimates you guys have gotten on blueprinting and assembling your block? Thanks -Ernie

 

I think this question should be answered by Arias, the source for the pistons and rings. Ideally I will break it in NA before adding the turbo pieces, but certainly don't want to run high boost on the sub-1k mile motor.

 

Good question!

 

Ok, this is how I break in all my forged blocks.

Remove the IC pipe so that you can make full WOT runs with NO boost. Rig up an air filter if you like, I usually don't, it's up to you.

After first start let the motor warm up to full op temp. Go out to a long strech of road with no lights and make about 20 3rd gear pulls from 20mph to ~55mph at WOT. The gearing in the Z is different than most with it's 6 spd, so try to stay under 4500 rpm. After those 20 WOT pulls take it home and let it cool down. Then drive normal, no boost. I usually start boosting after 200 miles. It all depends on how well the machine work was done on your block. I would suggest running a compression test on each cylender to make sure they are all sealed up before boosting. I have my machine work done at one of the best shops in Detroit so I can get away with boosting early, you however may not be so lucky. Just do a comp test to find out. I've run 16 psi after 200 miles on my blocks. I would say don't boost on the Z until after about 3000 miles and it's second oil change. Change your oil after 200 miles, then again at 3000. DO NOT USE SYNTHETIC until after about 6000 miles. You need to use regular oil for everything to break in properly.

Once you guys get these motors going let me know what your piston to cylender wall clearance is and how bad your piston slap is. I usually only leave .033 even though CP recommends .04, that causes too much slap for a street car.

 

I spoke to Arias on this. Their technician recommended the following. First of all....no WOT runs at all.

When first start the motor for the first time, you should let it idle at about 2500rpm for 30mins...get it nice and hot.


The just drive the car relatively normally for 500miles, that it...its broken in. Varying speeds and loads is good. But dont pound the crap out of it until 500miles. Definatley use normal motor oil, but Arias said you can switch to synthetics after the 500mile mark. Hopefully, your engine will be built with the right tolerances and clearances, so break-in with be fast and painless.

These pistons should not be noisy at all once warm (high silicon pistons), if they were installed correctly with the proper clearances.

 

LOL! No WOT runs? Have some ***** dude. Break those Bitches in! Believe me, you need a good load on your rings at first so that they spread out and wear the cyl wall. 20 WOT runs! Do it!

 

Your are funny...i dont think we're ready to have a leaky $5000 engine in our cars. I guess each person can decide for themselves how they want to break it in. i suggest everyone talk to as many engine builders as possible and let us know what you find out. All I know is want to avoid putting too much pressure (boost) on those rings until they have fully seated. That is probably why Arias recommends this setup for turbo cars.

 

i plan on (whenever this is done) to keep everything installed (turbo) but at greddy's stock boost.... drive for about 300-500 miles on regular oil, then replace it... drive again and replace oil at 1000 between 1000-1500 miles im gonna switch to synthetic... but turn up the boost to where i want to run it before I switch to synthetic... but I will have to do some research.. by the time I finish this project though.. im sure a lot of you will have already experimented with this.... good luck

 

http://www.aera.org/Consumer/breakin.htm

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

http://www.enginesonly.com/break-in.html

http://www.rpmrons.com/enginestartup.html

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/7177/trdbreakin.html

 

I have a local engine builder who has a test bench where he actually mounts the engine and then hooks up a small electric 5hp motor to the crank pulley. He then lets the engine "run" for an hour without spark plugs in the heads. This allows the engine to do a pre-break in without adding fuel to the equation. The engines get quite hot as the rings seat to the new bores. With this method he gets some of the highest vacuum readings out of his turbo motors some of the local tuners have ever seen. After installation and the initial start-up to get the motor to temp he does the first oil change and then drives the car easy for the first 500 miles and then it's ready to run hard. His motors are always perfect.....I guess 25 years of experience has helped him a little.

 

that is the craziest thing I have ever heard...LOL. I have heard of bench break-in, but they run the motor with fuel and spark. I just dont know.....

There are about 10,000 different techniques for engine breakin, and everyone has an opinion that they swear by.

 

LOL didnt mean to start a controversy GQ, I read some of the links regarding WOT runs , and it makes sense to some extent, I just seen so many cars built up with internals suffer from the dready blowby(sux), I hope you guys all get your cars dialed into perfection and wish your engines longevity,, I just wanted ppeoples input after all we are here to exchange advice not to
ridicule........-Ernie

 

What g356gear didn't mention..

In bench laping the rings... The electric motor has a variable speed..controller.. and generally runs the RPM from 400 RPM to 4000 RPM in cycles..

Now here is the difference.. The oil is in the engine, pump turning..

But there is no water pump or Contained water in the engine..
Some of the builders will run a water hose into the block, but water runs out everywhere.
the engine is generally smoking in a half hour... and the smell is very bad.. Assembly glues just bubble and get hard..

These guy's are my age or older.. But the "theory" - "Holds Water" Sic (Sorry)
- In the cast iron day's, Chrome Ring Day's, I had Kieth Black do the balancing job.. Art Cole did the assembly. And Chuck White did the bench laping.. That engine a big Block Ford 401 Cu Inch.
A Ford 352 bored 110 thousands over with 406 Rods and a 427 Forged crank. 390 Pistons 60 over.
It ran in various cars for 18 years, first N/A with tri-power B-Stock, then F/I with a 471 Blower.. B Unlimited. The last owner was running the motor in a 1961 Ford Falcon car was 2100 lb's
He ritired it and put the engine in a Ford Pick Up truck.. It may still be running in California Central Valley.

Cheers Amy -

I would admit, in today's aluminum and Moly Coated world..
Those methods are fading images of a day gone by.. But if by
scientific testing they still work.. then more power to them..

Of course there are less and less "Craftsmen" remaining.. What
we have today are called "Parts Changers" Sic ( Sorry - if that offends )

GQ you are in a part of the country, where there is a wealth of
knowledge about making power .. Rent Thunder in the Carolina's

Great flick.. From Hauling moon to early Nascar.. Ha !


Cheers

 

Hey Big...I am just being a smart-***...i wasnt ridiculing you. if you search around, you will find wildly different theories on engine break-in, so each person just needs to decide for themselves how to do it.

If you experience blow-by, a likely culprit is improperly gapped compression ring. There needs to be a small space when the engine is cold, so that is it expands, this gap closes...but never completely or the ring will be toasted. So if there is too large of a gap, you may end of with reduced power and excessive blow-by. That's why I leave the engine building up to the experts. And improper break-in can prevent the rings from every seating properly.


Maybe I will recruit one of the NASCAR engine builders in Charlotte to do my car. I knew there was a reason I moved out here.

 

Oh no GQ no way was I saying you were ridiculing, Im actually on your side when it comes to safety and longevity,,,,,,,,I wholeheartidly agreed with you saying NOBODY want to build their engine more then once................take care

 

This is the good one, Follow this.

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm