Hey guys ive been doing research on how to properly break in new forged pistons and rods. Like always theres several different ways people suggest. I wanna know what u guys think, also whats up with prople saying to do like three oil chnages within the first like 1000 miles? Also after i get this installed, can i get it tuned rite after or should i wait 500 miles. Btw i have a b16a2 turbo

 

here we go.. prepare to get about 3 different theories and philosophies on this. I'm older school with the method you describe. Others will easily disagree based upon X engine guru or Y engine guru.

Hope you'll survive through it.

 

I am a firm believer in the Earl Laskey/ Motoman break in philosophy. Always worked very well for me.

As said above you will get varying opinions.

 

The only thing you are breaking in is the rings. You have one good chance to seat them right. The best results come from good round bores, proper hone finish for the rings and careful prep/assembly. After that the tune and initial running conditions are important. I get the engine running correctly, bleed coolant and make sure all is good. Then I put the car on the dyno and spend about 4-5 hours running it and tuning...eventually to full power. After that I change the oil and call it done. Based off my leakdown test results, performance, oil consumption and engine life this has been a successful procedure for me. I have used this method on everything from SCCA world challenge engines to 900+ drag.

Personally I think the 1000 mile, no boost etc is a total crock of ****.

 

Damn I wrote up a big thing but I'm on my phone and lost service and it got deleted. Seat rings and run it is what I always do and never had a failure from this method. You'll get many different procedures though like Mac said.

 

My motor is proof.

With ~ 10 miles of normal driving on the block, it was broken in on the dyno putting out 362WHP.

And I think you're confused. You don't break in pistons/rods, you "seat the rings"

 

hm.. ive always just beat the **** out of it right away. lol

 

This

On fresh builds I'll let the motor idle at varying rpm on break in oil until the car is up to temp, then do idle speed changes again. I also use this time to double check for leaks of any kind, funny noises, belt tension, base timing, etc. I also make sure oil pressure is within normal as well as make sure the turbo is getting oil (no clogged feedline/drain and such

Then I shut the car off and let it cool down to ambient temp. I then recheck all fasteners for proper torque as the initial heat cycle will cause them to loosen up. Things like turbo to head bolts/studs, turbo to manifold fasteners, downpipe, wastegate, full exhaust, oil pan, intake manifold to head bolts/nuts, throttle body nuts (or clamps/v-bands for people with ITBs) motor mounts, transmission to motor bolts, starter bolts, any accessory brackets and the accessories, recheck belt tension, etc

Also important things like checking the cooling system level, power steering fluid level (if you have it obviously) another biggie is I check that fhe fuel rail bolts are tight, the fpr, all fuel lines (anything carrying fluid/pressure) I also check that all vacuum/pressure signal lines are secure, intercooler piping couplers are tight and that the blow off valve is securely mounted. Also check that the turbo inlet fitting and feed line are tight, both at the turbo and where you feed it from (I prefer sandwich plates since they supply the turbo filtered oil where as a tee fitting in the stock oil pressure sender location provides the turbo with dirty unfiltered oil, necessitating the need for an inline filter between motor and turbo) also check that the drain flange on the turbo is tight as well as the return line.

I also check that the vtec solenoid (again if you have one) is tight, the distributor retention bolts are tight and I also go over the entire engine harness making sure all connectors are firmly seated and haven't vibrated loose, broken off or melted etc

I also take this time to safety wire every single nut and bolt that is important... almost ensuring 110% that nothing will come off or loosen up
I know it sounds lengthy but would you want your freshly built setup and hard earned money to be wasted in seconds because of some small detail?

Basically anything that gets direct heat from the motor, vibration and things like that, just common sense really

Then I drain the oil and remove the oil filter ( 2 in my case) I drain the filters into a clear container and run a magnet around to check for metallic debris then I pour it through a coffee filter to check for any non ferrous debris

I also cut the filters open and check the filter media for any sort of debris, from bearing material, metal, gasket maker and anything else that might be there

I then fill the motor up with the oil I plan on using regularly, 2 new filters (not fram lol) and then take it to the dyno and go from there, making low load/rpm pulls to get the motor to temp and slowly build a tune and slowly start seating the rings. Then it's all out full pull time for tuning

Think of it this way. The cylinders are round, the pistons are round and the rings are round. So unless you royally fucked something up they will seat regardless of breakin method

Sorry for being lengthy and uber detailed but I find fhe majority miss a lot of stuff when installing/heat cycling/tuning a fresh setup. So hopefully someone reads this and takes the steps to fix the issues and maybe someone can add things to check that I'm not thinking of at the moment