I have a B18B that I just rebuilt. About how many times should I crank the motor to build oil pressure before initial fire up? Bottom end was just deglazed and new Nippon pistons with rod bearings that are factory spec with new rings installed. So it was just an R&R of what was already there basically.

 

Pull the plugs to put less strain on your starter to crank longer without the battery going soft. Un plug the distributor or ecu so you will not have the injectors firing. If you have an oil pressure gauge crank it until you get a reading on the gauge. If you don't crank it until the oil pressure light goes out. Also confirm oil at your turbo feed. I usually pull the feed off the turbo and make sure it has good flow before starting and possibly damaging the turbo from a dry start or lack of lubrication.

 

Yes I have an oil pressure gauge. Good, so disconnect the dizzy and pull the plugs than keep turning over motor till I get a reading on the gauge.

Thanks!

 

You got it. Don't forget the turbo feed. Can't hurt to verify good oil supply to your turbo

 

I took off the turbo stuff and am going to drive it around N/A for a bout 1k miles for a solid brake in for the rings. I know you can brake in the rings with a turbo on it but I feel like it would be "safer"/ "easier" to just do it N/A. After a couple oil changes like one at 500miles and one at 1k miles I will put all my turbo stuff back on and visit my tuner.

 

If your turbo feed is from the back of the block and the oil light goes out while cranking, the turbo has oil, no need to pull the line.

 

the cylinders are round, the pistons are round, the rings are round... If everything was done right it won't take nearly 1,000 miles for them to fully seat

 

You won't get any reading on the pressure gauge. I tried. Unless you pumped 24v through the starter it doesn't produce enough rpm to make any measurable pressure. That being said, I cranked it over for a few seconds with no plugs just to make sure oil was flowing everywhere.

If everything was done right the rings should seat over 80% within the first 20 minutes of hard driving.

 

60% of all fact percentages are pulled out of thin air ...

 

Good than maybe ill do 100 miles and 500 miles oil change and visit tuner. Even when everything runs right I don't think I put 3k miles a year on the thing lol.

 

When I assembled my engine with plugs out I was able to build 15psi on the starter. Just takes a minute.

No such thing as too cautious when it comes to anything that is pressure lubricated.

 

Except the 80% figure comes from a reliable source so I have no reason to doubt it. Its from the motousa break in page. Though its 80% in the first hour of operation, so I got the time figure wrong. You should do the first oil change at 20 miles though to flush out the metal particulates that accumulate during the initial break in.

 

On a fresh motor i start it. Let it idle for 15 min or till the fan kicks on

Change oil and filter

Add new oil then beat the **** out of it for 50 miles

Change oil

Keep beating the **** out of it

Change oil after 500 miles

Beat the **** out of it

Change oil at 1500 miles

Beat the **** out of it

I havent done a sleeved build yet so thats usually where things break. (Sleeves,rods,pistons, etc)

 

That's EXACTLY how I broke in my current motor. After the 1500 miles, that's when I installed the turbo. It's easier to trouble shoot leaks and issues when it's a simple NA setup instead of FI. Get the kinks worked out, then apply the boost.

 

You don't necessarily have to "beat the **** out of it." Especially with a new build where there are many other concerns beyond ring seal when starting and driving a fresh build. I have always considered breaking an engine in a tuners job as well as an extra charge. The fueling and ignition need to be optimized or at least cleaned up unless it's a stock engine on a stock ecu. A professional tuner understands what is going on and can see all the data. It's a systematic process. Once everything has been determined good to go, it's not going to hurt the engine to beat on it. If it blows up during break in, it would have blown up regardless.

 

I rately have any leak issues

I check my plugs a lot.

Theres no reason not to beat the **** out of it. Unless its a daily or youre not on a track lol

I like to run it hard to seat the rings the way the motor is going to be run.
I also drive up and down steep hills and let the motor "engine brake" down. The very first 30 miles or so

Ive never had a spun bearing or a compression ring leak. Ive always broke stuff.

 

Everyone really should change oil after 15min of idle

Everytime i do it i find a lot of material in the oil and filter from the rings

 

And just to clairify, you are not attempting to build oil pressure for the initial turning over. All you are doing is priming the system. I take the valve cover off and turn the engine over until oil starts coming out of all the camshaft oil rails. At that point, the system is full of oil and can be started and an oil pressure gauge can be used to monitor.

 

I think I might use this method as everywhere I read it is advised to do a "hard break in" I just hear a ton of different philosophies on doing oil change increments during the process. The only common things are waiting till the oil is at operating temp which is different than coolant temp. Typically about 20min. than after my first oil change I should see some minor metal shavings/bits but nothing major, nothing like glitter maybe like sand? But not a ton of it just a presence. Also I hear to not use synthetic during break in only conventional.

 

Agree with whats been said. First startup, crank for 20 seconds or so with no fuel, run until it heat cylces check for leaks etc. Change oil. Go for a drive let the engine decel as much as possible and slowly creep up in RPM and load as its tuned. Doesnt take long for everything to break in. Then just floor it and change oil at progressive intervals (50,250,500,1000) or w/e floats your boat. This is how I did the motor in my car that is now 4 years old.

 

Pull ECU fuse and prime motor until oil pressure warning light turns off.

Reinstall ECU fuse and start motor.

Fast idle for 15-20 minutes or until completely warm. Vary the revs while doing this.

Shut it off. Drain oil HOT. New oil and filter. Use your preferred break in oil or good conventional with a break in additive.

Drive for 50 miles. Decel, do some light pulls. Vary the revs. Do NOT go cruising down the highway at a steady rpm.

Change the oil again.

Tune it, go fast and forget about it.

Change the oil after 500 miles.

Switch to whatever synthetic you prefer after 2k more miles.

Racecar.

 

Also remember that you cannot use synthetic oil for initial startup and break in, standard dino oil only. A dedicated break in oil would also ensure that you get the best results. Running a single weight oil is also a good idea, most tend to use a single weight oil, usually 30W.

Because you aren't operating the motor for long periods of time or during highly varying ambient temperatures there isn't any point in using an oil with a very wide ambient temperature tolerance so you'll get more consistent results not to mention saving money since you'll do at least two oil and filter changes during the process.

When you first start the car and let the engine oil get up to full temperature and let it run for 20 minutes or whatever you'll want to change the oil and filter after shutdown and the engine has cooled off. A few people then cut that first oil filter open and inspect the filtration media for any signs of debris or metal, same goes for the engine oil. After the oil has been drained people then pour the oil through cheese cloth stretched over the opening of a suitably sized container. The cheese cloth is so fine it will filter out basically anything which will let you see if there's anything in the oil that should not be there.

Just food for thought.

 

I was still seeing residue from my assembly lube at my 500 mile oil change. After that it was clean. Freaked me out too cause assembly lube mixed with oil looks funky. Almost metallic.

I don't have a pipe cutter to open my filters but I kept all of them and sealed them so I can check them at a later date lol. I have like, 3 or 4 filters waiting to be cut open