never use synthetic to break in rings
vary speeds for first 100 miles or so.
rings will seat about 500 miles then change oil.
engine will smoke a bit but should go away after first 100 miles or so.
if you used synthetic well you might have to hone cylinders again.
you can put synthetic in after the first 1000 miles

 

Dawg is correct about synthetic oil. A friend of mine did this and the rings weren`t broken in after 3000 miles. We switched back to mineral oil and drove it and after a while it broke in. When your coming to a stop, down shift the transmission to a lower gear to slow the car down, this will aid greatly in breaking it in.

 

i subscribe to this method

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

 

X2 on what TryMe said. :thumbup:

 

We torque plate hone our blocks with a Sunnen hone and the rings are pretty much are broke in up on start up from what we have seen over the years.

We build alot of circrle track engines and our breathers are always dry even after 3 years of racing, And I have seen other cars and I know they were not plate honed and the breathers are wraped with rags because of oil blowing out every where and even after 2 or 3 years of racing they never seal up, My conclusion the rings have never sealed up,

Our leak downs we have done have been we see 1.5 to 2% leak downs after a season or two of racing.

I have seen brand new engines that leaked down 16% because they were not honed correctly.

Stock engines don't build much Dynamic pressure, Now start adding more compression and performance cams that build alot of dynamic pressure and it makes the problem worse.

Do a leak down test to see where you are at!!

Here is a good link to look over
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58964

 

I'm always nervous about flooring it the first time, but I agree with that article as well. If I forgot to torque something or if something is going to fail, I want it to fail softly so I don't end up blowing a hole in the block The whole point is to let the rings establish a wear pattern with the bore. Peak acceleration and deceleration are the times when the rings are stressed the most. Hit it hard.

I usually drive it pretty gently and keep RPMs varied, but I don't go all the way to redline right away. I let it get up to full operating temp a few times first and retorque anything that needs it.

But the 350 I just built for my boat... I put it in, started it, and blasted up the lake at 5200 RPMs. Three seasons later it still does the same thing just as well.

 

Has anyone else heard of wiping the cylinder and ring surfaces with automatic transmission fluid? Got that tip from an engine builder. Haven't tried it, but I will next time.

 

I completely agree with CNC blocks and the drive it hard mantra. All the circle and drag engines we build and put on the dyno get a up to operating temp break in, and then full pull. Then leak down checked, if its over 5% we take it back apart and redo it. As for the Tranny fluid, its an old trick to clean the cylinders. As for me, soap and water, wipe it down with glass cleaner, then wipe it down with Joe Gibbs break in oil. Happy roddin.

 

Many of the top builders will send you a hot engine along with a dyno sheet and a warranty. They wring them out on a dyno and offer a warranty, sounds good to me.

 

After hone, wash thoroughly with soap and water and moroso brushes. Blow out with air, immediately whipe down with ATF, then go back with a special cloth, wipe excess of ATF, put Total Seal powder on the cylinder wall, fit piston dry. Break in cam for 30 min. Let engine cool completely, crank next day let reach operating temperature then to redline over and over and over. From my experiences, all the engines I've built finished 'smoking' 3-5 minutes into the cam break in but I always like to the engine run hard after building because of what that article says.

 

Dawg is correct about synthetic oil. A friend of mine did this and the rings weren`t broken in after 3000 miles. We switched back to mineral oil and drove it and after a while it broke in. When your coming to a stop, down shift the transmission to a lower gear to slow the car down, this will aid greatly in breaking it in.

I wonder how the millions of engines built by GM, Ford, Chrysler, and many foreign manufacturers ever break-in the rings when they are factory filled with synthetic engine oil?!?! Proper cylinder wall finish and a perfectly round cylinder is the secret. Scrubbing the cylinder walls with any engine oil and a clean rag helps to remove any metal and honing grit from the pores of the metal. You might be surprised how grey a white rag looks after thoroughly scrubbing the cylinders!

 

I also agree that synthetic and break in are a very bad mix. The basic trick to getting your rings seated is to simply put the motor under load. A couple of ways to do this is you can just accelerate rather hard and then let up and slow back down. You just keep repeating that. Another very effective method is to take a ride up a steep mountian (if you have any nearby). Anything to make the motor work hard will seat your rings. I like to do this after the 1st oil change.

 

Ok thanks for the input....... I will have to get some more miles on it then while under load before I can say I *******'d up a piston ring (during cam break-in my ignition timing was accidently so far advanced I do'nt know how it even ran!!) As far as oil goes for break in....... during my 25 minute cam break in I used quaker state 5w40 diesel oil I believe, it is what nearly everyone suggested I use in an earlier post due to the chemistry of diesel oils and the effects they have on engine break-in. I then did my oil change after break-in and put in quaker state 10w30 and it has been in ever since. Is this a good oil to do the ring break-in with?? Hmmm I wonder if I switched to a thicker oil if the engine would stop burning oil

 

i had my engine honed by a shop, that used a torque plate..

I also used a flat tappet hydruallic cam in my chevy 350.. so it got it's requisite 20 minutes @ 2000 rpm, then I drove the living **** out of it.. and it has more or less zero blow by.. i have a breather in one valve cover PCV in the other, and the engine is coming up for it's first oil change.. I foolishly forgot to write the milage down when I changed the oil after the break in period.. I think it's around 5000 now. (Been using a semi-synthetic oil) so I just let it be until it started getting 'black'.. and figure I'll change it now.
I broke in using Shell Rotella 15-40w due to it's high zinc content (that's good for flat tappet cams)
then after 500 miles on that, I changed it to Valvoline MaxLIfe 10w30 and haven't looked back since.. including over-revving the poor thing to 7200 rpm once...
my theory on break in.. is go or blow

 

Huge No-No is using any "STP"-type additive during break-in, or for the first 2k miles, just to be safe.

Generally speaking, no additives are needed- period, except for possibly zinc (for flat tappets), IMO.