what's the procedure for breaking a new motor?

[zliminator]

It's a new crate motor. I know you drive it for 50 miles and then change the oil. Then you drive for 200? and change the oil.

[Mike kZ]

Every engine builder seems to have a different brake-in procedure. Some say don't worry about it, some have a procedure to follow. I would contact the builder of your crate engine and ask them.

[grumpyvette]

once youve got the ignition timing and valves adjusted and the carburator adjustments at least close to correct...and youve checked for coolant levels and vacuum leaks and potential sources of over heating or rought running,problems, like low coolant, low oil, no fan,loose belts, loose hoses,and the correct fuel pressure,float levels etc.

you can decide if you want to brake it in driving or stationary, if stationary placing a garden hose to run water thru the radiators fins to absorb heat is a good idea

start it up and watch the gauges carefully, if youll drive the car,carry a cell phone if your going to drive more than around your block,and its a good idea to have a friend follow in a second car...

changing the oil and oil filter after the first few hours to remove acumulated metalic dust, assembly lube, gasket cement,and general crud in the oil is a VERY GOOD IDEA! no mater what break-in method you choose to use!

taking it easy on the engine by keeping it under about 5000rpm for the first 30 minutes while the parts lap in is smart!,yet you want the rings to seal quickly so don,t BABY the engine, run it under loads at times,THAT DOES NOT mean drag race the car for the first few miles , but it does mean that accellerating briskly like you might getting on to an expressway ramp is a good idea. and if your breaking in a flat tappet cam youll want to keep the rpms above about 2000rpm and varing constantly between 2000rpm-about 3500rpm most of the time,to get the cam to lap in correctly.

its also a good idea to ad a can of GM EOS to the mix of oil in the pan and a good mineral base oil like shell, or valvoline.

As far as the actual cam breakin lube, what you want is a stiff, black moly-fortified assembly lube for the cam/lifter interface. Any good one that fits the bill will do the job, but one I like a lot(as do many others), is the "isky rev lube". This is good stuff that surely fits the bill well.

 

E.O.S. in the oil, and MOLY ASSEMBLY grease on the cam and lifters

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/se...chItemId=118243

 

I normally pour it in just before starting the engines cam break in,procedure. because I want to make sure that nothing in the oil/E.O.S. mix can settle out from sitting over a long period of time. now if your running a flat tappet cam you should have also used a moly cam lube on the lobes and be useing a mineral base oil for the break-in procedure, and youll need to do an oil and filter change after about the first 2-3 hours running time (vary the load and rpms constantly, but keep between 2000rpm -5000rpm) to remove that moly cam lube from the engine after its served its purpose of protecting the cams lobes and lifters at start up, aND AS THE LOBES/LIFTERS LAPPED IN. MOSTLY to prevent that moly grease and E.O.S from potentially partially clogging the filter after that mix cools down,but also because both those lubes might leave deposites in the combustion chamber ,over time that might aggravate detonation.

even G.M. suggests that E.O.S. is not a great long term oil suppliment, and that its main function is to add extra oil film strength durring new engine break in.

 

1052367

ENGOILSUP

EOS - Engine Assembly Prelube

Specifically formulated as an engine assembly lubricant. E.O.S. provides outstanding protection against run-in wear and piston scuffing as well as run-in camshaft lobe and lifter scuffing resulting from insufficient lubrication

don,t forget a few magnets in the oil pan goes a long way towards trapping unwanted metalic dust formed from the cam and rings lapping in durring break-in that might otherwise get imbedded in your bearings or cause other problems

heres the magnets I use in every engine

 

http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=0035

 

you might want to read thru this

 

http://www.cranecams.com/?show=article&id=2

 

FROM MORTEC

If you are building a big block Chevy with a flat tappet cam, (solid or hydraulic lifters) be careful during the initial engine break in. It is very easy to lose a cam lobe and lifter during initial break in. This is especially true with a higher than stock lift cam and higher pressure valve springs. The increased pushrod angles found on the BBC and poor preparation can make cam lobe failure after initial fireup a distinct possibility. You can help prevent this cam lobe failure by making sure the engine is prelubed prior to intial fireup. Use a good high pressure lube on the cam lobes and lifter bottoms during assembly. If possible use a lighter pressure stock valve spring (or if using a valve spring with multiple springs, take out some of the inner springs) to intially run the engine. Then switch to the heavier pressure springs after break in. When the engine is first fired up, keep the engine rpms at 2,500 or above, don't let the engine idle for 20 minutes or longer. This keeps lots of oil splashing up on the cam lobes. Make sure the engine can be run for this time period by having enough fuel available, ignition timing set correctly, coolant available for the motor, valve lash set correctly, etc. The idea is not to crank the motor over excessively before it starts up for the first time. If your BBC flat tappet cam survives this initial break in period, it will be good to go for many miles. After the initial engine breakin, drain the oil and change the oil filter. Roller cams generally do not suffer these types of cam lobe failures during initial engine fireup.

if youve adjusted the valves correctly the lifter spins at all rpm levels,but that does NOT mean it wears EVENLY at all rpm levels due to several factors if you look closely AT FLAT TAPPET CAMS youll see that the center of the cam lobe is NOT centered under the lifter and that the lifter surface is slightly angled , BOTH these factors force the lifter to spin in its bore as the lobe passes under the lifter slightly off center.

 

SOME of the reasons the higher rpm durring the break in phase is important is that

 

(1) the faster RPMs the better chances the lobe passes under the lifter floated on an oil film and the less time the oil film has to squeeze out between them

 

(2) the higher the RPM the greater the oil voluum and pressure the engine pumps and the more oil flow is available at the lobes

 

(3)the higher the rpm level the more oil is thrown from the rods onto the cam lobes

 

(4)the higher the rpm the greater the lifters weight and inertia tends to compensate for the springs pressure and lower the net pressure as the lifter passes over the cam lobes nose

 

(5) at higher rpm speed the better chance a small wedge of oil is trapped between the lifter base and lobe from the oil thrown from the lobes surface by centrifical force

 

(6) two differant metal surfaces scraping past each other at low speeds may tend to wear and GALL as the oil is sqeezed out but two differant hardness steel surfaces that impact each other at higher speeds covered with oil tend to work harden as they mate and will tend to be seperated by that oil

 

(7)as the lifter spins in its bore the contact point between the lobe and lifter base constantly changes and rotates with the lobe contact point not resisting its passage and the higher the rpms the faster the lifter rotates and the less time the lobe spends at any one point

 

VALVOLINE BRAND RACING OIL HAS THE HIGH ZINK/PHOSPHATE LEVELS that help prevent cam wear

[zliminator]

That's very good advice. I'll make a printout of it.

 

Dan

[BillZ260]

Can we sticky this?

 

And Grumpy, please change your avitar back to the ugly cowboy!

[LS1 240Z]

the only thing id worry about is metal stuff in the motor (changing the oil after 15 or so minutes of motor running time) and then if you have to seat the cam, if its a flat tappet cam sometimes you cant allow the motor to go under like 3,000 rpms if i remember correctly, so that the cam can harden and not wipe out a lobe later.

 

roller motors just change the oil after a short time of running and go

 

just a little something..after smokey yunick would build a motor he would grab the throttle and do a wide open throttle run as soon as he started it up

[zliminator]

I don't have the motor yet. The guy that is going to sell me the car said his son blew up the motor that's in on his prom night. He said he has a brand new crate motor he will give me and I haven't seen it yet.