KT Motoring
01-03-2008, 07:34 AM
found this stuff online, i also found the same info with Buschur Racing and other reputable shops. Long Post but good reading trust me O0
Buschur's info
Here is some information I want to get out there.
The 4g63 is not a small block Chevy. You do NOT crank it with the fuel disconnected or the ignition unplugged to prime the oiling system. If you truly wanted to try and prime the oiling system before starting a new engine you would need to leave the timing belt off and crank the oil pump separately. Same thing if you DID have a small block Chevy, you'd spin the oil pump through the distributor hole.
This next stuff applies to OUR ENGINES. I don't care about some other shop or some other machine shop that did YOUR work. Don't ask as I could care less.
For our engines. IF you put your head on, timed it etc. and installed the engine in your car AND you have everything exactly right, the engine should start and run almost immediately after trying to start it. When it does hold the engine at around 1500-2000 rpm and let it stay there. Check it for leaks while it is doing this, check it for anything out of the ordinary. If you are using a standalone check the AFR's, look at the knock count etc. Dial in your AFR's a little so it is where it needs to be to run at this RPM. Hopefully you have a map that is right in the first place and you can just let it run. While the car is warming up the lifters will quiet down as the oil pressure builds and the air gets out of the lifters. Check the coolant, watch the coolant temps.
DO NOT just crank the engine to attempt to build oil pressure, it WILL BUILD INSTANTLY IF THE CAR STARTS.
ALL of our engines are built/assembled with a special lube. It is very sticky. I basically fill the crank shaft with it, so there is quite a bit of lube there and everything is very well coated. The engine could probably actually run with NO oil in it for a few minutes with no damage, we don't want that obviously.
Point is to TRIPLE check every single thing on the car first and then it should start instantly and run.
Once you are sure there are no leaks of any type and everything is tight and triple checked again you can either start some low throttle tuning or go for a drive.
As long as everything is 100% I could care less about a break in. Engines built here/assembled here and installed here are broken in on the dyno about 90% of the time. I have maps perfected for any combination we have. So the car is checked, loaded on the dyno. The idle, part throttle tuning is gone over and a few miles are put on the car at light loads to make sure it runs great and the AFR's are good. I do all the fuel mileage calibrations right on the dyno too. When this is done, the car is looked over again and then the tuning at low boost levels (20 psi or whatever) is done. I generally do the pump gas tunes first so the boost levels are lowest. As soon as they are done then the car is turned up and tuned on race gas if that is part of the build.
It is nothing to have a car with less than 10 miles on it at 40 psi of boost and 10,000 rpm. If it is going to fail then it is going to fail at that point and running it for 2,000 miles (whatever) easy is not going to change that. Running an engine for 2,000 miles to break it in is complete BS. It's most companies ways of getting you to take 6 months to be ready to run the car hard and by then they hope the warranty is over.
"Break-In Secrets" after successfully applying this method
to approximately 300 new engines, all without any problems whatsoever.
Links to this article now appear on hundreds of motorsports discussion forums from all over the world. The reason is that over time, large numbers of people have done a direct comparison between my method and the owner's manual method, and the news of their success is spreading rapidly.
The results are always the same... a dramatic increase in power at all RPMs. In addition, many professional mechanics have disassembled engines that have used this method, to find that the condition of the engine is much better than when the owner's manual break-in method has been used.
The thing that makes this page so controversial is that there have been many other break-in articles
written in the past which will contradict what has been written here.
Several factors make the older information on break-in obsolete.
The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you're about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with
newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines.
In addition, there is a lot less heat build up in the cylinders from ring friction
due to the finer honing pattern used in modern engines.
The other factors that have changed are the vastly improved metal casting and machining
technologies which are now used. This means that the "wearing in" of the new parts
involves significantly less friction and actual wear than it did in the distant past.
With that in mind ...
Welcome to one of the most controversial motorsports pages on the internet !!
How To Break In Your Engine For
More Power & Less Wear !
One of the most critical parts of the engine building process is the break in !!
No matter how well an engine is assembled, it's final power output is all up to you !!
Although the examples shown here are motorcycle engines,
these principles apply to all 4 stroke engines:
Street or Race Motorcycles, Cars, Snowmobiles, Airplanes & yes ...
even Lawn Mowers !!
( regardless of brand, cooling type, or number of cylinders. )
These same break in techniques apply to both steel cylinders and Nikasil, as well as the ceramic
composite cylinders that Yamaha uses in it's motorcycles and snowmobiles.
What's The Best Way To Break-In A New Engine ??
The Short Answer: Run it Hard !
Why ??
Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about. Contrary to popular belief, piston rings don't seal the combustion pressure by spring tension. Ring tension is necessary only to "scrape" the oil to prevent it from entering the combustion chamber.
If you think about it, the ring exerts maybe 5-10 lbs of spring tension against the cylinder wall ...
How can such a small amount of spring tension seal against thousands of
PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch) of combustion pressure ??
Of course it can't.
How Do Rings Seal Against Tremendous Combustion Pressure ??
From the actual gas pressure itself !! It passes over the top of the ring, and gets behind it to force it outward against the cylinder wall. The problem is that new rings are far from perfect and they must be worn in quite a bit in order to completely seal all the way around the bore. If the gas pressure is strong enough during the engine's first miles of operation (open that throttle !!!), then the entire ring will wear into
the cylinder surface, to seal the combustion pressure as well as possible.
The Problem With "Easy Break In" ...
The honed crosshatch pattern in the cylinder bore acts like a file to allow the rings to wear. The rings quickly wear down the "peaks" of this roughness, regardless of how hard the engine is run.
There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!
If the rings aren't forced against the walls soon enough, they'll use up the roughness before they fully seat. Once that happens there is no solution but to re hone the cylinders, install new rings and start over again.
Here's How To Do It:
There are 3 ways you can break in an engine:
1) on a dyno
2) on the street
3) on the racetrack
On a Dyno:
Warm the engine up
completely !!
Then, using 4th gear:
Do Three 1/2 Throttle dyno runs from
40% - 60% of your engine's max rpm
Let it Cool Down For About 15 Minutes
Do Three 3/4 Throttle dyno runs from
40% - 80% of your engine's max rpm
Let it Cool Down For About 15 Minutes
Do Three Full Throttle dyno runs from
30% - 100% of your engine's max rpm
Let it Cool Down For About 15 Minutes
Go For It !!
On the Street:
Warm the engine up completely:
Because of the wind resistance, you don't need to use higher gears like you would on a dyno machine unless it's a LOAD DYNO. The main thing is to load the engine by opening the throttle hard in 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear.
The biggest problem with breaking your engine in on the street (besides police) is if you ride the car on the freeway (too little throttle = not enough pressure on the rings) or if you get stuck in slow city traffic. For the first 200 miles or so, get out into the country where you can vary the speed more
and run it through the gears !
Be Safe On The Street !
Watch your speed ! When you're not used to the handling of a new vehicle, you should accelerate only on the straightaways, then slow down extra early for the turns. Remember that both hard acceleration and hard engine braking (deceleration) are equally important during the break in process.
On the Racetrack:
Warm the engine up completely:
Do one easy lap to warm up your tires. Pit, turn off the car & check for leaks or
any safety problems. Take a normal 15 minute practice session
and check the water temperature occasionally. The racetrack is the perfect environment to break in an engine !! The combination of acceleration and deceleration is just the ticket for sealing the rings.
Go For It !!
Yeah - But ...
the owner's manual says to break it in easy ... :grin:
Notice that this technique isn't "beating" on the engine, but rather taking a purposeful, methodical approach to sealing the rings. The logic to this method is sound. However, some will have a hard time with this approach, since it seems to "go against the grain".
The argument for an easy break-in is usually: "that's what the manual says" ....
Or more specifically: "there are tight parts in the engine and you might do damage or even seize it if you run it hard."
Consider this:
Due to the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used, tight parts in new engines are not normal. A manufacturing mistake causing a tight clearance is an extremely rare occurrence these days. But, if there is something wrong with the engine clearances from the factory, no amount of gentle running will fix the problem.
The real reason ???
So why do all the owner's manuals say to take it easy for the first
thousand miles ???
This is a good question ...
Q: What is the most common cause of engine problems ???
A: Failure to:
Warm the engine up completely before running it hard !!!
Q: What is the second most common cause of engine problems ???
A: An easy break in !!!
Because, when the rings don't seal well, the blow-by gasses contaminate the oil with acids and other harmful combustion by-products !!
Ironically, an "easy break in" is not at all what it seems. By trying to "protect" the engine, the exact opposite happens, as leaky rings continue to contaminate your engine oil for the rest of the life of your engine !!
3 more words on break- in:
NO SYNTHETIC OIL !!
Use Valvoline, Halvoline, or similar 10 w 40 Petroleum Car Oil for at least
2 full days of hard racing or 1,500 miles of street riding / driving.
After that use your favorite brand of oil.
Buschur's info
Here is some information I want to get out there.
The 4g63 is not a small block Chevy. You do NOT crank it with the fuel disconnected or the ignition unplugged to prime the oiling system. If you truly wanted to try and prime the oiling system before starting a new engine you would need to leave the timing belt off and crank the oil pump separately. Same thing if you DID have a small block Chevy, you'd spin the oil pump through the distributor hole.
This next stuff applies to OUR ENGINES. I don't care about some other shop or some other machine shop that did YOUR work. Don't ask as I could care less.
For our engines. IF you put your head on, timed it etc. and installed the engine in your car AND you have everything exactly right, the engine should start and run almost immediately after trying to start it. When it does hold the engine at around 1500-2000 rpm and let it stay there. Check it for leaks while it is doing this, check it for anything out of the ordinary. If you are using a standalone check the AFR's, look at the knock count etc. Dial in your AFR's a little so it is where it needs to be to run at this RPM. Hopefully you have a map that is right in the first place and you can just let it run. While the car is warming up the lifters will quiet down as the oil pressure builds and the air gets out of the lifters. Check the coolant, watch the coolant temps.
DO NOT just crank the engine to attempt to build oil pressure, it WILL BUILD INSTANTLY IF THE CAR STARTS.
ALL of our engines are built/assembled with a special lube. It is very sticky. I basically fill the crank shaft with it, so there is quite a bit of lube there and everything is very well coated. The engine could probably actually run with NO oil in it for a few minutes with no damage, we don't want that obviously.
Point is to TRIPLE check every single thing on the car first and then it should start instantly and run.
Once you are sure there are no leaks of any type and everything is tight and triple checked again you can either start some low throttle tuning or go for a drive.
As long as everything is 100% I could care less about a break in. Engines built here/assembled here and installed here are broken in on the dyno about 90% of the time. I have maps perfected for any combination we have. So the car is checked, loaded on the dyno. The idle, part throttle tuning is gone over and a few miles are put on the car at light loads to make sure it runs great and the AFR's are good. I do all the fuel mileage calibrations right on the dyno too. When this is done, the car is looked over again and then the tuning at low boost levels (20 psi or whatever) is done. I generally do the pump gas tunes first so the boost levels are lowest. As soon as they are done then the car is turned up and tuned on race gas if that is part of the build.
It is nothing to have a car with less than 10 miles on it at 40 psi of boost and 10,000 rpm. If it is going to fail then it is going to fail at that point and running it for 2,000 miles (whatever) easy is not going to change that. Running an engine for 2,000 miles to break it in is complete BS. It's most companies ways of getting you to take 6 months to be ready to run the car hard and by then they hope the warranty is over.
"Break-In Secrets" after successfully applying this method
to approximately 300 new engines, all without any problems whatsoever.
Links to this article now appear on hundreds of motorsports discussion forums from all over the world. The reason is that over time, large numbers of people have done a direct comparison between my method and the owner's manual method, and the news of their success is spreading rapidly.
The results are always the same... a dramatic increase in power at all RPMs. In addition, many professional mechanics have disassembled engines that have used this method, to find that the condition of the engine is much better than when the owner's manual break-in method has been used.
The thing that makes this page so controversial is that there have been many other break-in articles
written in the past which will contradict what has been written here.
Several factors make the older information on break-in obsolete.
The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you're about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with
newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines.
In addition, there is a lot less heat build up in the cylinders from ring friction
due to the finer honing pattern used in modern engines.
The other factors that have changed are the vastly improved metal casting and machining
technologies which are now used. This means that the "wearing in" of the new parts
involves significantly less friction and actual wear than it did in the distant past.
With that in mind ...
Welcome to one of the most controversial motorsports pages on the internet !!
How To Break In Your Engine For
More Power & Less Wear !
One of the most critical parts of the engine building process is the break in !!
No matter how well an engine is assembled, it's final power output is all up to you !!
Although the examples shown here are motorcycle engines,
these principles apply to all 4 stroke engines:
Street or Race Motorcycles, Cars, Snowmobiles, Airplanes & yes ...
even Lawn Mowers !!
( regardless of brand, cooling type, or number of cylinders. )
These same break in techniques apply to both steel cylinders and Nikasil, as well as the ceramic
composite cylinders that Yamaha uses in it's motorcycles and snowmobiles.
What's The Best Way To Break-In A New Engine ??
The Short Answer: Run it Hard !
Why ??
Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about. Contrary to popular belief, piston rings don't seal the combustion pressure by spring tension. Ring tension is necessary only to "scrape" the oil to prevent it from entering the combustion chamber.
If you think about it, the ring exerts maybe 5-10 lbs of spring tension against the cylinder wall ...
How can such a small amount of spring tension seal against thousands of
PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch) of combustion pressure ??
Of course it can't.
How Do Rings Seal Against Tremendous Combustion Pressure ??
From the actual gas pressure itself !! It passes over the top of the ring, and gets behind it to force it outward against the cylinder wall. The problem is that new rings are far from perfect and they must be worn in quite a bit in order to completely seal all the way around the bore. If the gas pressure is strong enough during the engine's first miles of operation (open that throttle !!!), then the entire ring will wear into
the cylinder surface, to seal the combustion pressure as well as possible.
The Problem With "Easy Break In" ...
The honed crosshatch pattern in the cylinder bore acts like a file to allow the rings to wear. The rings quickly wear down the "peaks" of this roughness, regardless of how hard the engine is run.
There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!
If the rings aren't forced against the walls soon enough, they'll use up the roughness before they fully seat. Once that happens there is no solution but to re hone the cylinders, install new rings and start over again.
Here's How To Do It:
There are 3 ways you can break in an engine:
1) on a dyno
2) on the street
3) on the racetrack
On a Dyno:
Warm the engine up
completely !!
Then, using 4th gear:
Do Three 1/2 Throttle dyno runs from
40% - 60% of your engine's max rpm
Let it Cool Down For About 15 Minutes
Do Three 3/4 Throttle dyno runs from
40% - 80% of your engine's max rpm
Let it Cool Down For About 15 Minutes
Do Three Full Throttle dyno runs from
30% - 100% of your engine's max rpm
Let it Cool Down For About 15 Minutes
Go For It !!
On the Street:
Warm the engine up completely:
Because of the wind resistance, you don't need to use higher gears like you would on a dyno machine unless it's a LOAD DYNO. The main thing is to load the engine by opening the throttle hard in 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear.
The biggest problem with breaking your engine in on the street (besides police) is if you ride the car on the freeway (too little throttle = not enough pressure on the rings) or if you get stuck in slow city traffic. For the first 200 miles or so, get out into the country where you can vary the speed more
and run it through the gears !
Be Safe On The Street !
Watch your speed ! When you're not used to the handling of a new vehicle, you should accelerate only on the straightaways, then slow down extra early for the turns. Remember that both hard acceleration and hard engine braking (deceleration) are equally important during the break in process.
On the Racetrack:
Warm the engine up completely:
Do one easy lap to warm up your tires. Pit, turn off the car & check for leaks or
any safety problems. Take a normal 15 minute practice session
and check the water temperature occasionally. The racetrack is the perfect environment to break in an engine !! The combination of acceleration and deceleration is just the ticket for sealing the rings.
Go For It !!
Yeah - But ...
the owner's manual says to break it in easy ... :grin:
Notice that this technique isn't "beating" on the engine, but rather taking a purposeful, methodical approach to sealing the rings. The logic to this method is sound. However, some will have a hard time with this approach, since it seems to "go against the grain".
The argument for an easy break-in is usually: "that's what the manual says" ....
Or more specifically: "there are tight parts in the engine and you might do damage or even seize it if you run it hard."
Consider this:
Due to the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used, tight parts in new engines are not normal. A manufacturing mistake causing a tight clearance is an extremely rare occurrence these days. But, if there is something wrong with the engine clearances from the factory, no amount of gentle running will fix the problem.
The real reason ???
So why do all the owner's manuals say to take it easy for the first
thousand miles ???
This is a good question ...
Q: What is the most common cause of engine problems ???
A: Failure to:
Warm the engine up completely before running it hard !!!
Q: What is the second most common cause of engine problems ???
A: An easy break in !!!
Because, when the rings don't seal well, the blow-by gasses contaminate the oil with acids and other harmful combustion by-products !!
Ironically, an "easy break in" is not at all what it seems. By trying to "protect" the engine, the exact opposite happens, as leaky rings continue to contaminate your engine oil for the rest of the life of your engine !!
3 more words on break- in:
NO SYNTHETIC OIL !!
Use Valvoline, Halvoline, or similar 10 w 40 Petroleum Car Oil for at least
2 full days of hard racing or 1,500 miles of street riding / driving.
After that use your favorite brand of oil.