recommended break in motor

[mrsatisfiher]

I Have a fully built motor from top to bottom includinig sleeving new piston, rings, bearings and port and polish head etc etc and planning to boost it should I drive around unboosted for a while or just boost right from the start?

[M@]

I broke mine in N/A for about 600 miles. Regular non-synthetic oil for the first start up, let it get to operating temp, and idle about 30 min. Shut it off, change the oil, and replace it with regular oil again. Change again at 300, then again with synthetic at 600. Broke it in by doing idle to 3,000 rpm then down, then up, etc. a lot, then a kept doing that but gradually kept raising my temporary "redline" by 1,000 rpm every 100 miles. This worked out just fine for my motor and made plenty of power, held together great, and compression test showed its as perfect as the day it was built even after plenty of abuse and racing.

Good luck.

p.s. Lots of people will disagree with that method, lots will agree with it. Some boost right off the bat and drive it like they stole it because some say to drive it like you built it to be driven... but I think that's bullshit.

[99GunMetalSi]

I was told to break it my motor pretty close to the same way M@ did except for the rpm every 1,000 rpm increase. I was told to set it a 3,000rpm for the first 1,000 miles, and then work your way up in the rpm's after that

I broke mine in N/A for about 600 miles. Regular non-synthetic oil for the first start up, let it get to operating temp, and idle about 30 min. Shut it off, change the oil, and replace it with regular oil again. Change again at 300, then again with synthetic at 600. Broke it in by doing idle to 3,000 rpm then down, then up, etc. a lot, then a kept doing that but gradually kept raising my temporary "redline" by 1,000 rpm every 100 miles. This worked out just fine for my motor and made plenty of power, held together great, and compression test showed its as perfect as the day it was built even after plenty of abuse and racing.

Good luck.

p.s. Lots of people will disagree with that method, lots will agree with it. Some boost right off the bat and drive it like they stole it because some say to drive it like you built it to be driven... but I think that's bullshit.

[-importsports-]

heres how we recommend it to all our motor builds and NOT one has failed on our method. very similar to matt's.

0-100 miles: 25% throttle max, 3,000rpm max, no highway, no steady rpm driving.
101-300 miles: 50% throttle max, 4,000 rpm max, highway ok, no steady rpm driving.
301-500 miles: go get partial throttle tuned for up to 75% throttle, 5,000 rpm max with vtec off. drive it normal at this point.
501-800 miles: drive it like you're borrowing someones car that you really respect, not like you stole it.
801 miles: get it tuned for full throttle and drive it like you stole it!

never use synthetic oil until you get your engine fully tuned for full throttle. use regualar 5w-30 castrol motor oil, synthetic will not let your rings seat properly. follow matts oil change mileage.

this is an example on a typical honda motor build, b-series.

hope this helps a little

[Brandon]

drove it like i stole it, boosted an all after about 200 miles. Lasted about 10k miles give or take a few thousand with 30psi and an 80shot at the track.

[mrsatisfiher]

thanks a lot guys I will do what matt says since that is more of a reasonable way to break in motor instead of some dude saying driving it like u stole it

[mrsatisfiher]

another question should I install the turbo when put in the motor too or wait until motor has broken in

[hrcDSM719]

I broke mine in N/A for about 600 miles. Regular non-synthetic oil for the first start up, let it get to operating temp, and idle about 30 min. Shut it off, change the oil, and replace it with regular oil again. Change again at 300, then again with synthetic at 600. Broke it in by doing idle to 3,000 rpm then down, then up, etc. a lot, then a kept doing that but gradually kept raising my temporary "redline" by 1,000 rpm every 100 miles. This worked out just fine for my motor and made plenty of power, held together great, and compression test showed its as perfect as the day it was built even after plenty of abuse and racing.

Good luck.

p.s. Lots of people will disagree with that method, lots will agree with it. Some boost right off the bat and drive it like they stole it because some say to drive it like you built it to be driven... but I think that's bullshit.

I agree with this guy. Also, before you start if for the first time, disconnect/disable your ignition system and crank it over enough to get oil pressure. After you change your oil and stuff the first time, set your timing and idle speed before you start driving it around. Detonation on a freshly rebuilt motor will kill it real quick... Enjoy!

[HONDA GHANDI]

We break all of our in house engines in on the dyno with a couple of changes to the "standard" break in schedule. setting your redline to 3k for the first 100 miles wont allow your rings to break in properly. The first hour of engine operation is critical to the rings making a lasting and permanent seal in the cylinder. We start a fresh engine on standard oil, raise the idle to 2000 rpm and let it sit there at that speed for 15-20 minutes to break in the camshafts, and bearings. NO LOAD at this point. We shut it down, let it cool and check the valve adjustment. Repeat 2 more times until valves no longer need adjustment. After that I will change the oil and replace it with standard oil again. Put the car on the dyno, and set my load to a constant light load and use light to moderate throttle to raise the rpms to about 75% of the engines redline and let it coast back down to about 1500rpm repeat several times for about 45 minutes. This allows the rings in their installed state to wear a proper pattern in the cylinder walls immediately instead of allowing a slow break in which can "glaze" the cylinder walls. The key is loading the rings in both directions. After 3 dyno sessions like this the oil is changed again, and valves are checked one more time. Now a small amount of boost is applied and a safe base tune is put on the ECU for some street driving. At this point I will also do an overall check just to double check my work, leak check, compression check etc. Then the car is street driven with varying throttle angles, rpms and speeds. I prefer street breakin on side roads, not highway but with the rings already about 80% seated on the dyno it wont matter a whole lot. After 600-1000 miles it is ready for another oil change and dyno tuning at full boost. For cars that wont see the street for 1000 miles or will only see the track ALL of the breakin is done on the dyno.

I have been building engines since 1990 and using this method or a variant of this method since. (didnt always have a dyno) Since 1990 I can count on one hand how many engines I have built that have failed, and of those not one of them failed due to improper break in.

[Kwando]

i never thought a break in was that extensive. thats great info tobi. now i just need you to build a motor for me.

[HONDA GHANDI]

When I deliver an engine build to a customer it should be a finished product. When you pay for an engine build, your hard earned money goes into it. My sweat and blood goes in as well. The customer shouldnt have to do some of the work after the fact IMO.

[mrsatisfiher]

u have pm tobi

[M@]

I take back my previous statements on startup, now that I think about it, I did the same thing when I first started it and revved it about 2-3k for about 10-20 min or so. It's been a bit since I did the break-in.