I don't pretend to know all that much about engines, and I only skimmed that page, but.
A friend of mine back in New York used to take out cars and drag them the day he put fresh engines in them. Never once did I see him have a problem with them and they were driven very hard. He usually ended up wrapping up the car before he had any type of problem from the motor.

 

I read this article on the SHO owners forum. Many people swear by this. Some say that they never get full performance from a car they've bought from an original "conservative" owner.

Frank

 

I don't agree with everything in the article, but I don't disagree with most of it. Part of what I disagree with is the "don't even start it in the garage until you're ready to run it on the street". So how are you suppossed to run in the cam, adjust the timing and the carb if you don't run it in the garage?

The owner of the machine shop that's built my last 5 lower ends has always said to do it this way: run the cam in, then drive it like you plan to drive it when it has 60,000 miles on it. Don't keep it at any constant RPM (like on the freeway) for the first 2k miles. Change the oil after 100 miles, 500 miles, then 1500 miles, and regular intervals after that. So far, I haven't been able to break any of his engines following this advice, so that's what I'll continue to do.

When SacBill had his engine rebuilt by the same guy, Bill asked him, "so what should I do to break it in?"

Mike: "Keep it under 500".

Bill: "500? RPMs?"

Mike: "No, miles per hour".

:rofl:

 

I've always just ran the crap out of them after setting timing and jetting.

Never had any problems with burning oil, blowby or spun bearings...

 

I agree with it so much I've passed it along to others. It explains the difference in proper "drive it like Ya stole it" break in, and just abusing the engine.

 

I agree with the article. I warm the engine..get the oil and water to running temp. Load the engine up after 30 minutes of run time. Take the car out and find a vacant strip and stand on the mutha!
Dad always went by this method. He said if you want to know how well you can build an engine ..you will see. If it flys apart..you know right away something is bad.
To this day I have not had one failure with this method.
My poor man's stroker in BLISTIC is still running strong (if not stronger) after 7 years of abuse.
Also something to think about. You buy a new GT...do you baby it for the first 5k to 10k..no you don't you mash it every time.
That and most crate motors that are DYNO'D are done the same way.

 

you ever see them baby a new engine at the dragstrip??

 

One of my customers was an engineer at the Ford River Rouge plant when the 1965 and 1966 Mustangs were being built. He worked all over the production line when they first started the new models to help work out problems that came up.

He said that when the cars came to the end of the line, a guy would jump in a peel out of the building into the parking lot like he was trying for the pole position. Every car was accelerated pretty hard while it was parked and then again when driven onto the train cars that transported them from the plant. He said this was a deliberate practice to help seat the rings before the car made it to the dealers. Basically, it was Ford procedure and policy.

At some point during car assembly, they were put on a machine and all the ignition and carb tuning was done, as well as checking of all the fluids and such. I think enough time was spent here to break-in the cam and lifters.

 

That's pretty much how I broke in my 408. I broke in the cam then took her out on the street and revved the snot outta her in 2nd then completely let off the gas till it was back down to 2500rpm then did it again over and over.

 

How do you break in a cam? Don't know what this means.

thanks.

 

How do you break in a cam? Don't know what this means.

thanks.

 

70sportsroof are you joking or Serious?

 

I have always used a slightly modified version of this. After the cam break-in, i will drive it to the redline every chance I can, but not at full throttle. I just use mid-throttle. I got me over 200k on an 88 Mustang GT conv't (the car rusted out after 13 years, but never burned a drop of oil).

 

Z06 engines alledgedly are run at full throttle on a stand for 1 hour before release to the line. I can't validate it because I haven't seen it. It may not seem like a big deal but it does debunk the idea of taking it easy for the first 500.
GM recommends a 500 mile break-in for the Corvette but this is believed to be for proper drive train mesh not the engine.

 

To my knowledge, all NASCAR engines are not broken in before races unless you consider qualifying and practice which isn't very many miles. Then they're torn down and rebuilt for the next race they'll be used in.

 

Cam Break in. This is the seating or the proper matting of the cam lobe surface and the lifter surface. This is after intial crank up. Roller cams do not require such.
MOST engine builders set valve lash right at initial build.
So once the engine is cranked and timing verified the engine is ran up to 2500 to 3000 rpm's for 15-20 minutes.
At that point. Engine is shut off. All fluids are checked. Valve covers are popped for a double valve check and oil is drained. New oil added and filter. Covers back on...and take it to the test track.

 

Id be interested to see a leak down test on the motors that some people tear apart and still find the cross hatch from the factory.