breaking in an engine

[s!ke]

Ok, i JUST purchased a rebuild kit for my 7M-GTE, and I asked the guy a few questions about how to get the most out of my new engine, and basically he said.

For the first 500 miles, baby it. Dont take it over 65mph (how the hell im going to do that on california freeways i dont know), then change the oil

for the next 1500 miles, baby it some more, still, keep it under 70-75. change the oil

while all this time running straight 30 in it.

then you should be good to go, or so he says..


this is just one mans POV, does anyone else have any other ideas i can eliminate wear/tear initially. or at least until it is broken in.

 

[lagged]

that sounds good enough. vary RPMs. whille driving in the city this is easy, while on the highway change gears alot and make sure you dont keep the motor running at one single RPM for a long amount of time. thats a pretty good oil change schedule. after 1000 miles id go to a regular oil change schedule and switch to whatever your favorite synthetic oil is.

 

[thesandymancan]

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

i've never tried it but i've heard good things

 

[s!ke]

damn, now im confused as what to do! thanks to sandymancan! any other suggestions?

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

I always read not to go too hard or too soft. Just go regular driving. Open it up a bit but don't overdo it like racing off at every stop sign. Just some things I've heard.

 

[aljordan]

I was running a bar of boost after a 2 mile drive around our culdesac. Needless to say.. I beat on the car the Mototuneusa way.

My compression numbers after 230 miles were 141-145 cold with 3 compression strokes. If I let the car crank until the guage peaked, I'd see low 150s. A hot compression test would give me anothe 10psi on those numbers.

First motor I did I broke it in easy. This way is so much more fun.

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

I was running a bar of boost after a 2 mile drive around our culdesac. Needless to say.. I beat on the car the Mototuneusa way.

My compression numbers after 230 miles were 141-145 cold with 3 compression strokes. If I let the car crank until the guage peaked, I'd see low 150s. A hot compression test would give me anothe 10psi on those numbers.

First motor I did I broke it in easy. This way is so much more fun.

Well let us know how long that last, I'm considering trying that way also.

 

[IJ.]

Only "Issue" I have with hard breakins is most times our motors aren't in any state of tune after a rebuild that I'd feel comfortable leaning on one right away.

If you have a good solid tune and have just rebuilt it without changing components and you're happy there are no leaks and Oil pressure is good and you're confident in the tolerances by all means go for it.

When I worked for the race team we broke our 2 litre Cosworth's in on the dyno and leaned on them quite heavily to do so.

 

[figgie]

agreed with IJ.

tune is number one BUT if you are stock with all stock components. Triple check for leaks and then go for it!