Freshly rebuilt SR block- break in procedure?

[jdm_s14_zenki]

i get my car back saturday with a freshly rebuilt block. do i need to break it in before driving hard or anything that i should know before i go to the canyons? :2f2f:

Dont wanna screw anything up :]

[boost infested]

start the car up, hold the rev at 2000rpm until working temp'. change the oil, drive it nice for a couple of tanks of fuel.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

thats it? ok cool, thanks.

[wootwoot]

Many of us have lots of different oppinons. Ask your machinist

[Irukandji]

yeah there are many many many different opinions.

There was a site where a guy said beat the living shit out of it and the rings will "form strong seals"... but that seems very iffy.

I'd go with the tradition 500 mile break in, then oil change, then have fun.

[McRussellPants]

I did oil changes at 20minutes 150miles and 1000.


10,000 miles and still going strong.

[McRussellPants]

PS. make sure you don't use synthetic oil.

[EchoOfSilence]

PS. make sure you don't use synthetic oil.
i thought it would be a good idea to use synthetic form the start?

[jdm_s14_zenki]

aww man, i get my car back tomorrow...do i use synthetic or no?
its a fully built toda head..stock block, s14 blacktop motor..14psi

[EchoOfSilence]

toda? wow man how much was this

[jdm_s14_zenki]

my cost was just under $3000
head was also port & polished and portmatched with intake mani and exhaust mani
Ferrea stainless valves and tomei bronze valve guides.
Cams are toda 264 and i love em.
Kept VTC on intake cam cus i dont plan on more then 350whp

The head is a monster. I cant wait to get my car back tomorrow!! It'll be like driving a new motor! it looks so nice with its valve cover off too!

[boost infested]

dont use synthetic to break in..

[Annoying Eric]

NEVER USE SYNTHETIC FOR BREAK IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you do, youll blow smoke forever... Use like 10w-30 for break in.... The synthetic wont let the rings seat properly....

[sncs14]

don't break it in with synthetic, and check with the machinist about the break in

[jdm_s14_zenki]

the mechanic said:

No synthetics for another 3000 miles
As soon as i get home, let car idle for 3+ hours
In 2 days drain water out of radiator and replace with coolant.
In 2 weeks, oil change.
DO NOT ROMP ON THE CAR AT ALL UNTIL BREAK IN IS FULLY COMPLETED!
He also told me to come back in a couple days, and he will do timing again if needed and set the idle.
The idle fluctuates a bit but he said thats normal for now/.

Does this sound about right guys?

[Agamemnon]

3000 milles seems like alot. The average I've heard was around 500 miles. It's up to you.

Also, go to an auto parts store and get an oil filter cutter. When you change your oil, take off the oil filter and cut it open to inspect it to see if any large or unusual debris got picked up.

[MangoDorifto]

Dont use synthetic and change your oil often! Just use regular dino oil. Cheap stuff will do fine. On my motorcycle, i changed the oil out at 50 miles and had HUGE metal flakes floating around. I'd also run a magnetic drain plug if you can, your oil filter and pick up will thank you.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

what kind of oil is safer? synthetic or regular? i can care less about performance right now. and i usually change oil every 2k miles. I think i will go out and grab a magnetic drain plug too on my next oil change...a week or two from now.

btw, after driving like a grandma for a few hours. I noticed that when you let off the throttle and throttle it again...it bucks ALOT..like the gas pedal is super sensitive or something. other then that, my car feels like its a monster trying to get out of its cage..just gotta wait til it breaks in.

[DoriftoSlut]

You are just not supposed to use synthetic right away with brand new piston rings etc.. Let them seat fully before using synthetic oils.

I did my first 2 oil changes with regular, now i run 10w30 synthetic.


And imho i'm old school, break your motor in how you want it to be driven! All the old hot-rod guys tell me that. "If you want your motor to be a pussy motor, don't give it boost, but if you that thing to grow up nice and good, feed him boost from the get-go, you pussy."

I drove nice and easy on my car for the first 200 miles. Then i rocked the balls off of it.







OH and p.s. $3000 in Toda head, but STOCK bottom end? Welcome to topsy turvy world, i guess we do things backwards! wtf is that all about? Rebuilt bottom end with BRAND NEW BEARINGS AND PISTONS and seals and gaskets is like $1200 including machine work. WTF Mate.

[MangoDorifto]

I wouldn't run synthetic oil till about 3,000 miles or so. Synthetic oil has polymers in it that make the rings too slick to actually wear down the hone on the cylinder walls which allows the rings to seat properly. I'd change it out at 50, then 500 and 1500 then switch over to synthetic at 3000. Here's a good read, i'm not saying to do it but it's what I've done on all my brand new cars (02 acura rsx-s, 04 honda accord v6) and 05 kawasaki ZX6R. I don't hammer it to redline but I ease it up into the high revs and roll off the throttle, letting it engine brake. Hope that helps.

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

[jdm_s14_zenki]

You are just not supposed to use synthetic right away with brand new piston rings etc.. Let them seat fully before using synthetic oils.

I did my first 2 oil changes with regular, now i run 10w30 synthetic.


And imho i'm old school, break your motor in how you want it to be driven! All the old hot-rod guys tell me that. "If you want your motor to be a pussy motor, don't give it boost, but if you that thing to grow up nice and good, feed him boost from the get-go, you pussy."

I drove nice and easy on my car for the first 200 miles. Then i rocked the balls off of it.








OH and p.s. $3000 in Toda head, but STOCK bottom end? Welcome to topsy turvy world, i guess we do things backwards! wtf is that all about? Rebuilt bottom end with BRAND NEW BEARINGS AND PISTONS and seals and gaskets is like $1200 including machine work. WTF Mate.

I ran out of money and im going to sell the car. This project will not continue..at least by me.

And the reason why i did the head first is because i miss-shifted and broke a cam, 4 rocker arms, and bent a few valves, dusted some retainers..and so on.

OMG!!! There are alot of people saying to BEAT the engine in. WTF is that all about?
I have about 75 miles so far..
I let it idle for a couple hours, mixed with grandma daily driving (not going over 3000rpm, slow throttle)
i havent changed oil yet..
basically, just following what the mechanic told me..he said DO NOT FUCKING BEAT ON THE MOTOR!!!

this is confusing, and scary.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

Ok, my friend at SP Engineering (www.sp-power.com) says this:

Only dumbasses beat the crap out of their motors during break in.

Do not drive the car over 3000 rpm in every gear for about 2000-3000 miles.
Do not change the oil until the motor is fully broken in.
DO NOT USE SYNTHETICS FOR 3000+ miles

Basically drive it likes its a brand new car and baby the motor.

My friend at SP Engineering works on RACECARS and has many years of experience with building race cars and modified cars like mine. If you check out their website, you will know what im talking about. Im going to take his advice as well as the mechanic that built my motor.

BABY THE MOTOR UNTIL ITS FULLY BROKEN IN!!!

[McRussellPants]

What I did was no beating on it for a the first week or so and then ramped up from there.

Basically if you don't get some cylinder pressure going the rings will set wrong and you'll always have like 2% low leak down. Its not a matter of blowing up your motor its just getting them perfect.

Also, a few people I've talked to think its bad to really load the motor up. So I didn't do any 4th-5th full throttle pulls.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

Ok, my friend at SP Engineering (www.sp-power.com) says this:

Only dumbasses beat the crap out of their motors during break in.

Do not drive the car over 3000 rpm in every gear for about 2000-3000 miles.
Do not change the oil until the motor is fully broken in.
DO NOT USE SYNTHETICS FOR 3000+ miles

Basically drive it likes its a brand new car and baby the motor.

My friend at SP Engineering works on RACECARS and has many years of experience with building race cars and modified cars like mine. If you check out their website, you will know what im talking about. Im going to take his advice as well as the mechanic that built my motor.

BABY THE MOTOR UNTIL ITS FULLY BROKEN IN!!!
If SP Engineering says, dont beat the motor, if you do, your a dumbass...

Then dont beat the motor! if you do, ur a dumbass!

[Silverbullet]

cuz we all know SP engineering knows EVERYTHING right?

if your too nice to it the piston rings will not seal like you want them to. You should really give it some load. Run it hard is what many builders say. I've even heard some cases were the dyno test IS the break in procedure lol.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

cuz we all know SP engineering knows EVERYTHING right?

if your too nice to it the piston rings will not seal like you want them to. You should really give it some load. Run it hard is what many builders say. I've even heard some cases were the dyno test IS the break in procedure lol.
you heard..but you havent experienced? SP-Engineering knows their stuff real well. I think i'll listen to them, and the guy the BUILT my block. They say dont beat on it. Then I dont think I should..

No offense to anyone else, but if these guys say dont do it, i think theres some serious consequences if you do..

[NemeGuero]

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

aww damnit! I was just gonna post that link

[wootwoot]

Ive spoken to several shops who believe in the drive it hard break in. The higher cylinder pressures apply more force to the rings allowing them to seal better. It makes sense!

[jdm_s14_zenki]

yeah it does make sense, but im sure you CAN break it in the safe way. and with all the shit that ive been through with my car, id rather do it the safe way..SP are some experienced people man, believe me. www.sp-power.com check out their site. They work on Lambos, Ferraris, porches, lexus, nissan, toyota, rotary, everything. And theyre damn good at it. I'll trust their word. Not only SP's word, but the mechanic that built my motor told me to baby the motor. That also makes sense then FOR ME.

[wootwoot]

They do it the break it in hard way from the factory supposively, one of the first things they do to the car and many motorcycles according to sources I cannot hold as reliable; nothing on the internet is

[NemeGuero]

Did you even read the other link?

[MangoDorifto]

^ Yeah, did you even read the link I posted?

Everyone has there own opinions on how to break it in. I didn't say to beat the crap out of it as in WOT in first gear all the way to redline and power shift into 2nd. It just needs to have a load to seat the rings. Go to the site and read all the articles he's written. They dyno'd a bike that was pussied vs a bike that was broken in hard when it left the dealership and the pussied one made 5hp less. 5hp doesn't seem like much but it's everything when it comes to racing motorcycles. When everybody was port and polishing heads to "make" more power, he was adding jb weld to make the ports smaller. Think outside the box!

[NemeGuero]

I was talking about JDM s14 Zenki. He was disregarding the link because of "experience" from his other source.

The link I was going to post that someone else beat me to, is by someone with loads of experience.

That was the reason for my comment.

I should have quoted JDM s14 Zenki to avoid confusion.
Sorry Mango.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

i did read the link and it all makes sense. dont get me wrong, im not saying thats the wrong way to do it...im just saying, id rather do it a safer way...im scared of screwing my motor up...and my sources are telling me not to even take it over 3000rpm until its broken in.

[wootwoot]

What can screw up? You'll spin a bearing? What the heck is going to change in the 3000 miles? Its to late for you to break it in the hard way anyway duder face

[jdm_s14_zenki]

duder face? lol havent hear that one before..then again, i havent been to florida either.

I dont know what can get screwed up. ive dumped to much money into repair rather then upgrades..im scared to mess anything up! besides, im at 200+ miles now and the motor pulls hard up to 3000 rpm, havent taken it past that yet. runs real strong and smooth, idles nice, no weird sounds in the engine bay. I think everything will be ok. i'll break it in for another 800-1000 miles or so till i change oil and filter. then another 3000k miles for synthetics. I'll get it dyno tuned after about 800 more miles and post up my #s. Before the rebuild, i had 255HP/255TQ w/ 14psi, stock intercooler,stock turbo, stock injectors, just afc, exhaust, and built head. Thats with timing advanced like 5 degrees so i had better midrange/low end power.

[wootwoot]

WHOA change your oil and filter NOW. Like right right now. You definitely have some big gross pieces of metal in there you need to get rid of.
Dont worry about it not being right from this point on. Drive it normal, if anything bad is going to happen at this point its going to happen no matter how hard you drive it

and yes, Florida is weird.

[jdm_s14_zenki]

damn, no need to get all crazy on me! j/k ill go change my oil tomorrow. ur scaring me. 10w40 dino oil sound ok sir?