KhRoNiX

Im turboing my GSR and got new pistons and rods. When my car is tuned, it is going to be run hard. Is this bad considering the pistons are brand new. Also what is the break in time for new pistons and rods? TIA

dustin

You are gonna want to break in the new rings for about 1k miles. No high revving, no boost. The 1k miles should be daily driving miles, freeway driving does not count.

Dustin

Eric J

Break-in procedure quoted from T.O.O. @ Endyn BBS:

"Use 0-30, or 5-30, or 10-30 motor oil and a Honda filter. Do NOT use synthetic motor oil for break in.
Make sure the fluid levels are where they should be.
Start it up and keep the engine at 2500 -3000 rpm for about 20 minutes. Make sure there are no leaks, or mechanical problems. The only idling will be for setting the timing.

Before doing the schedule, remember that running the engine at steady rpm (like cruising on the freeway) is not good for break-in.

0-200 miles. Try to keep the highest rpm under 3000 rpm. Every 15-20 miles, zing the engine to 4500 rpm in first and occasionally in second gear.
200-400 miles. Try to keep the revs limited to 3500 rpm. Raise the "zing" rpm to 5500 with the same frequency as above.
400-600 miles. Go to 4000 rpm for driving limit. Raise the "zing" to 6000 - 6500 rpm and include 3rd gear pulls, same frequency.
600-800 miles. 4500 rpm driving limit. "Zing" it to 7000+ rpm and include partial 4th gear pulls.
800-1K miles. 5000 rpm limit with "zing" to 7500+ with some pulls all the way through 4th and partial fifth gear pulls.
Now, don't misunderstand me on the zings. You don't HAVE to scream the engine religeously at the prescribed intervals. If you don't have the space to run the engine up in the selected gears, don't do it. Just know that you can, and IF the opportunity comes around lay into it. Don't over-do the procedure.

I recommend that the oil be changed at the 1K mile marker. If the plugs are looking good and if the compression's (and leak down numbers) good, switch to Mobil 1 for life. Use either 0-30, or 10-30.
After the oil change, you might want to reset the valves and from that point on, drive it the way you'd normally run it."

KhRoNiX

Ok thanks for the input. Now what about the tuning. My car is going to be tuned as soon as the pistons are put in so the car is going to be run pretty hard on the dyno, Is this bad?

Eric J

Did you replace the rings and hone the cylinder bores when you installed the pistons? If you did, then you really shouldn't run it hard (high RPMs or high load) until the rings have fully seated. If you do run it hard right away, there is a good possibility the cylinder walls will glaze and the rings will never seat. This will cause the motor to have bad compression and burn oil like most of the new VWs do

KhRoNiX

Well, the rings were replaced but no honing was done. Should I tell my mechanic to let me put some miles on the car before the dyno?

KhRoNiX

TTT

civictom

it should of been honed if you're putting new rings in.....you don't want new rings without honing just like you don't want to hone it and put in old rings..the rings just won't seat right.

Eric J

Like civictom said, you should always hone the cylinders to provide a new seating surface for new rings. What brand of rings are you using? Depending on the rings used, sometimes you can get away with not honing the cylinders if the motor has low miles on it. What I mean by get away with is they could seat good enough for decent compression numbers and prevent serious oil burning problems. Most likely the compression will be on the low side though.

KhRoNiX

Well my mechanic said that because my car is pretty new (20,000 miles) that honing "probably" won't be necessary. Should I tell him otherwise? Also the rings and pistons are both JE (9:1 CR). Should I wait till after the break in period for my car to be tuned? TIA

turboex

my motor will be finish next week. i had i bordover .20 and i have 9.1 pistons and eagle rods for the drag3 turbo that destroyed my last set. personall im pulling the turbo of for the fisrt 1,500miles yeah i know this is hard to do but i gotta do the right thing the first time. after that its all gravy!

Eric J

Most aftermarket rings will require a much courser honing finish than OEM Honda rings to get them to seat correctly. If the motor is already in the car, then you might as well break the motor in for 1k miles without the turbo on, and then check the compression and leak down numbers to confirm if the rings are seating or not. HTH

SpeedMonkeyRacing

yeah..this is something i would like to know too. I'm in the process of rebuilding my motor w/ built top and buttom end..however, I will be on dyno to tune it w/ hondata....i guess i should wait to braek in first before i install hondata?!?

Jeff-

rtype11

if you dont have the time for proper break in, put a capfull of ATF in each cylinder via sparkplug hole, and beat the crap out of your car, may help seat rings fast.