Break in.....any truth to this?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

http://www.miatapower.com/engine-break-in.htm

[fredvance]

No!!! Certainly not a race motor. First of all the extended period of idle is wrong. On my bike I get everything ready to rumble, pull out and once it gets to full opersting temp, put it in 3rd 3000rpm or so then full throttle to about 9000rpm then coast down on compressionn, four or five times like that and the rings should be seated. If you are on a dyno same basic deal.
Did you send me a link to a titanium nut to use with my o2 sensor? If so I lost it  ,could you send it again, please!!

   Fred

[McRat]

I suppose how much cylinder pressure and EGT's you have could come into play.  I'd be reluctant to hit big boost without giving the bearings, rings, and valve faces some time to wear in, although in the past I've certainly skimped on break in.  I do know that every engine I've ever dyno'd or run at the track gets meaner the longer they run, so just running the engine will add power.  My best ET's have always been on engines that were not long for this world.  My routine for break-in has been to not exceed OEM redline, and not more than OEM engine power, and don't keep the engine at one RPM for more than a minute.  The object is to keep as much of the metal at an even temp, no hot spots, until the surfaces get some time to polish each other. 

But, break-in discussions are like motor oil discussions.  You are going to find very different opinions. 

Many manufacturers break in the engines after engine assembly, but before final assembly.  I purchased a brand new engine from GM, and disassembled it, and it had certainly been run at least at OEM peak power.  My guess from the carbon and injector pattern, that it spent somewhere between 30 min to 2 hours running at had hit full power at least a couple minutes.  The spray pattern marks showed this.  Whether they were just doing diagnostics, or actually breaking the engine in?  I'm thinking both.  Diagnostics only takes a few minutes, and doesn't require full output.

[willieworld]

drive it like you stole it                                        willie buchta

[fredvance]

You got it Willie.


            Fred

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Please dont just read the "FROM MAZDA MOTORSPORTS", this is an example of what he is saying comes from factories but he does not agree with. Read the article below it, this is what I am wondering about


*funny thing is from everyones comments it sounds like the guy that wrote it had correct.


~JH

[fredvance]

OK now that I read the whole thing, his procedure is basicly how I brake mine in. I read that when I started my project 2 years ago and IT WORKS!!

     Fred

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I gotta get in on this.  Last year our race ZX14R wasn't ready - so we took our street 14R, with all of 125 miles on it.  We ran it on both the short and the long course - for a total of about another 125 miles at WFO.  I think it worked -- no problems with the engine yet -- no oil burning, etc.  We'll see what happens if the engine lives long enough without modifications. 

But yyeah, Willie -- ride it like you're trying to get away from the guys.  WFO is the only way to go!

[RICK]

"Break-in" is kinda ol school. Back in the day we had to break in the cam/lifters and piston rings.But now days, piston ring technology is far Superior and every thing has a roller cam, that break-in may be unnecessary.
  Still,,,,When I build a motor with a flat tappet cam, I always coat the valve train with a moly lube, and run it about 2000 rpm for about 15 minutes. All the time carefully watching oil pressure and coolant temp. I run it in with ROTELLA oil, then switch to a 'racing oil' or a synthetic.  Don't know if its right or wrong, just habit,,,,and never had a problem.

   Good Luck,   RICK

[Ron Gibson]

Just FYI, I heard at a diesel shop I used to work at that even Rotella has been reformulated for less zinc, so you might check before depending on it.

Ron

[racergeo]

   It is necessary to use break in oil with extra zinc now days with flat tappet cams. We use Joe Gibbs Driven or Comp Cams additive. Always start engine and get to high idle to encourage lifters to spin and not develop a wear pattern. Leave at 2-3 thousand for 20 min. When first driving load cyld. walls with fairly rapid acceleration followed by deceleration. Do this a half dozen times and ring break in should be accomplished.(best to do in high gear)  Change to race type oil after a short time to flush machining and assembly debris out and cut open oil filter to inspect for unusual signs. Proper honing techniques on a Sunnen CK10 with torque plates and plateau hones in conjunction with modern race rings that are held to within a single 10 thousandth of a inch  need virtually -0- break in. A dyno operator will break in the engine and tell when it is done on a proper race engine. That is the most controlled way of doing it.

[wobblywalrus]

The heavy equipment shop I worked at in the late 70's always seated the rings in new or freshly rebuilt engines on a dyno.  The engines were run hard from the start.  They did not make a lot of power at first, but the rings would seat and they would develop lots more power.  If we put them together correctly.  The entire session on the dyno took 20 or 30 minutes.

I try to duplicate this procedure for my new motors.  I run a new engine hard at the beginning to seat the rings using methods like the folks that responded to this topic.  Then I take it easy on the street for about 500 to 1000 miles with varying engine speeds and loads.  This is to gently break in the gears, bearings, other engine, transmission, and differential parts, brakes, etc.  After break in I do not run the engine hard unless I absolutely need to do it to win.  I try to "save" the engine so it is in good condition for those special moments.   

[bak189]

Engine break-in?  This is the way they do it at the Rotax Factory in "Baja Germany" (Austria, they hate the term Baja Germany).....they take a engine off the end of the production line...put it on the engine Dyno....hook everything up....fire it up and run it thru the gears.....put it in high gear, open it up and load the Dyno.....run it at approx. 3/4 throttle with the Dyno loaded for 20 minutes.... while the operator reads the daily news paper......take it off the engine Dyno.....and send it to the various manufactures............
They do this with every engine before it leaves the factory.............Engine break-in??

[robfrey]

We have a procedure that has worked very well for us over the years. We fire it up and pull it onto the car trailer. That's it. Ready to race!
Not the same with our two cycle stuff but that is whole different discussion.

[McRat]

At one El Mirage event last year, we put a fresh engine in the night before, then I drove the truck to the race, finished assembling the truck in the pits, then ran it.  It wasn't the first time I had run a freshly built engine.  Oddly it was the only time we didn't have problems at El Mirage.

But this has bitten me in the arse many times in the past.  Not due to ring seating, but due to part problems.  If you are running prototype parts or if you are running off-the-shelf parts you haven't run before, breaking in the engine or trying to emulate a track run on the dyno can save grief.  Lot easier to fix stuff at home than in the pits.

I have had very poor luck in the last 10 months due to problems discovered at the track when they should have been caught at home.  And I'm a little worried that it will bite us again, as we haven't been to test our new engine yet, and have made some other driveline changes.