Engine break in

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Rhynorock

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
59
Location
Fredonia, New York
When you guys break in a rebuilt motor with a brand new cam & lifters, do you change your oil & filter after running it? I suspect with all the assembly lube in there it wouldnt be a bad idea to use it for a few miles, but what's everyone's opinion about it?
 
Good question. My feelings are that right after the 2000-2500 rpm break in for a half hour the oil and filter should be changed right away. There are a lot of shavings left in a motor from machining, no matter how you scrub and clean it. The sooner you can get that first batch of oil out of there the better, I think.

A mechanic I used to work with had a great saying. "Oil is the cheapest thing you will ever have to put in a motor", and that is true. Oil is sure cheaper than bearings, pistons, etc. :D

If you have a flat tappet cam (non roller cam) you should also be using a zinc additive, even every time you change the oil. Oils today do not have the proper zinc load to keep flat tappet cams and lifters from wearing, so it is cheap insurance to dump in a bottle of zinc additive, like Lucas Break in Lube with Zinc, every oil change.

Don
 
Good question. My feelings are that right after the 2000-2500 rpm break in for a half hour the oil and filter should be changed right away. There are a lot of shavings left in a motor from machining, no matter how you scrub and clean it. The sooner you can get that first batch of oil out of there the better, I think.

A mechanic I used to work with had a great saying. "Oil is the cheapest thing you will ever have to put in a motor", and that is true. Oil is sure cheaper than bearings, pistons, etc. :D

If you have a flat tappet cam (non roller cam) you should also be using a zinc additive, even every time you change the oil. Oils today do not have the proper zinc load to keep flat tappet cams and lifters from wearing, so it is cheap insurance to dump in a bottle of zinc additive, like Lucas Break in Lube with Zinc, every oil change.

Don
Yep X2
 
Be sure to use a good filter as well. Fram has the best advertising, but not the best filter, in my opinion. I prefer Wix or Purolator.
 
I agree about the Fram filters. I wouldn't put one on any engine for any amount of money. I always laugh when I see their commercials about how good they are ! :rolleyes:

Don
 
lol I also agree about fram. I use mobil 1 or napa (which are re-labeled wix filters) or actual wix depending on where I happened to make the purchase.

I was going to change the oil and filter anyway, I was just curious of other's ways of doing things. Thanks fellas!
 
when draining the oil

every time i broke in a race motor, i would run straight 30 weight oil, do the 30 minute break in, then when i drained the oil, i would take a paint strainer and put it in a funnel when draining it. that way you can just see how much metal or shavings is in it, i go so far as to cutting the filter apart and checking for metal in there. i am also a die hard believer of Lucas oil, ran my race motor with 50 weight race oil and 1 quart of lucas, raced a full season 2 nights a week for a year, tore it apart at in the off season, everything looked spotless and no wear. but i changed the oil after 4 nights of racing, and with the monsters, we change the oil after 4 complete shows, just food for thought.
 
I usually warm it compleatly 2 or 3 times then change it,
but I'm cheap!! If I didn't know what was in there I'd
probably go once!! Not a bad idea!!
 
something just learned

a buddy i been helping with his open wheeled modifed just had a sate of the art corvette motor built for his car, he spent more on this motor and building it then alot of guys have in their entire race team. anyway, he has a 100% chevy corvette block that he had everything custom built, assembled it, took it to the dyno, first 3 pulls was 700+ hp, towards the end of the 3rd pull, oil pressure light came on and the pressure dropped. we shut the motor down, loaded it back on the trailer got back to his shop and pulled it and started disassembly. we had had this block specd out the whole nine yards. come to find out, after rechecking the crank line bore, the block had "shifted" due to the heat up cool down cycle. so, the phone calls began, we finally had a person (very reputable engine builder, been around a long time and built thousands of race motors) tell us that the block was a "virgin" block and had not been seasoned yet. he had said back in the day, he would bury a motor in the ground for a month or so to season it (heat cycle) then do the boring, line boring and such. after doing some more searching, the newer style blocks metal composite are more apt to change and "warp" some. kinda off topic but this is something to keep in mind if anyone is building a virgin blocked motor. i honestly thought it was a bunch of b.s. till the gmc performance called him back and said that a run of the blocks didnt get "cycled" enough and he wasnt the first person to have this problem. take this info for what its worth but might be something to think about.
 
Burying an engine block in the ground to "season" it is urban legend as far as I'm concerned. Want to wreck a nice block? Bury it... New engines go through a very short run (apx. 30 seconds) at the end of the assembly line. Then they get sent to the assembly plant where they are placed in a vehicle which gets delivered to a customer.
 
A friend of mine used to work in Detroit for a company that had the contract from Chrysler to pick up their cars at the end of the assembly line and drive them about 3 miles to a staging area where car carriers would take them to their final destinations.

This was in the late 60's and he told me stories about how they "broke in" hemi Chargers and other muscle cars on the 3 mile drive. He told me they actually blew some engines from racing them the whole distance and had to sometimes push the cars into their parking spot. He said that if you think you get a new car when you buy one you haven't seen what they go through before you take delivery. :eek:

Don
 
Having grown up where all the Big 3 plants are I have heard a lot of those stories. I'm pretty sure they are true, unfortunately. Although, if I were to get to drive them I certainly wouldn't drive them like a Sunday cruise.[ddd

On a side note: I travel like crazy all over the world, never buy a used rental car. A tip from your Uncle Earl.
 
lol on rental cars

ive seen it first hand, you oughta see monster truck peeps hauling butt to the airport, seen some get some major air leaving the stadium parking garage, and you know its going to be bad when they put their helmet on
 

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