I am in the process of rebuilding my motor and I started thinking about tuning and breaking it in. I've read the two break-in procedures people say...baby it for 500-1000 miles or get on it right away. What they didnt specify was if the break-in could be at high boost. I decided to go with breaking it in right away and tune it on the dyno. My question is, would it be fine if I tune up to the power I would like out of it or do it to low boost like 7-10psi first? High boost i'm guessing would be around 18-20psi.

 

I have personaly broke in all my motors this way. I start the car get the a/f arounf 14.7 let it warm up a it hold it at 2500 for 20 min shut it down change the oil and hit the dyno .
I have piston pics to show the breakin .. NO skirt scuffing or wear. pulled the pistons looks beautiful. there are tons of breakin threads out there everyone does it alittle different
just my .02

 

Did you go all out when you did it? or did you do it on low boost to start?

 

I went all out to 16psi . if i had a issue witht he rings not seated i would found out in the first 10min the motor would sound like a wrx . I also did a compression check as well just to see if there is any variations between cyl. eveything was good

 

I broke my motor in the rough way 2 years ago and it still runs fine..Started it ,let it run at 3000 revs for 20 minutes,,turn it off check for leaks,,Then go beat the **** out of it doing some 3rd gear and 4th gear pulls..I broke the motor in NA though,,then put the turbo on and street tuned via laptop,,if you have the turbo setup on already i would take it to a dyno and break it in there while it's being tuned

 

My turbo will be on the motor when I start it. I guess I will go all out and tune for high boost. Is there anything you guys did before going on the dyno?

 

Please update with your results of how the motor fares after a high boost break-in once completed.

 

I personlly befor i went to the dyno i have apr heads bolts i made sure they were still torqued to the right ft-lb i noticed they tend to loosen up after the first hot running of the motor. I also did a compression test just to know how weel the compression is. i also did it after the tune and was not effected. them are just steps i took . But like i say befor other poeple have there own ways

 

By reading the two break-in producdures.

Was one of them the one by Earl Laskey? That's the only one that should matter.

I also recommend the re-torquing of the head. I do it after every 10 heat cycles until none of the nuts move.

 

last 2 years breaking in a motor.... Just let it get up to temp, check for leaks...
drive it NA, eventually going into the high revs with a stock map...
then a day or so later, adjust the valves... and then beat on it some more, STILL NA...

then put the big injectors in and start boosting... workin on the A/F with the wideband...

never had a problem last year, and 1000kms on this years build so far, ill soon be ready to boost.. just waitin on some things..

 

Start it up, check for leaks. Turn off, adjust necessary items. Re-start let it go through a couple heat cycles, turn off. Change oil, trailor to dyno...

 

Here is the article from Earl Laskey on breaking your motor in...hope it helps?

http://www.laskeyracing.com/shop/breakin.htm

 

I read that article but I just couldnt tell if he said it was fine to tune it to where I wanted it to be right away or just get it done at low boost. What have you done with yours ninesecrx?

 

We tune the motors right away for power.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ninesecrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We tune the motors right away for power.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats what im sayin!

Btw, I loved that article...extremely helpful!

 

Then thats what i'll do! Thanks for the reassurance. I am going to have to tow the car to the tuner and start it up for the first time and get the A/F where it needs to be right away!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1995Civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Thats what im sayin!

Btw, I loved that article...extremely helpful! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Right on

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by champLSinteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Then thats what i'll do! Thanks for the reassurance. I am going to have to tow the car to the tuner and start it up for the first time and get the A/F where it needs to be right away!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good luck with the project

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hondaruss &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have personaly broke in all my motors this way. I start the car get the a/f arounf 14.7 let it warm up a it hold it at 2500 for 20 min shut it down change the oil and hit the dyno .
I have piston pics to show the breakin .. NO skirt scuffing or wear. pulled the pistons looks beautiful. there are tons of breakin threads out there everyone does it alittle different
just my .02</TD></TR></TABLE>

im not sure where you came up with this methodology but rings NEED cylinder pressure to actually seat...so sitting there in neutral with no load wouldnt do this all that well in my opinion, someone correct me if I am wrong

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xenocron &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

im not sure where you came up with this methodology but rings NEED cylinder pressure to actually seat...so sitting there in neutral with no load wouldnt do this all that well in my opinion, someone correct me if I am wrong</TD></TR></TABLE>

I though about borrowing a wideband to get the a/f down for the initial start up and then drive it to my tuner who is about 3 miles away and just stay out of boost but then I though that would make breaking it in on the dyno pointless after running for 30 mins or so.

 

bump... im interested in this topic.

 

This is what i did so far....... Just went through a fresh rebuild and installed turbo kit etc...

Pull the ecu fuse and plug wires. Crank the motor til it builds oil pressure. Turn ignition and let fuel pump prime and then fire it up. I let it run through a heat cycle and adjusted for any leaks etc. Then i drove the car for about 20miles on the stock injectors to put some load on the motor. As long as the car doesnt see boost you will be ok. Next week it will be tuned and broke in on the dyno the rest of the way. I will let you know how it goes.........

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im not sure where you came up with this methodology but rings NEED cylinder pressure to actually seat...so sitting there in neutral with no load wouldnt do this all that well in my opinion, someone correct me if I am wrong</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not saying this is the right way but that's how I have always done it. Get the car started. Ideal A:F ratio from 800RPM - 2500RPM. Hold it at 2000RPM - 2500RPM for the first twenty minutes. Change oil and oil filter. Go tune. Even if it's the wrong way in people's opinions I have always done that and never had problems with rings sealing

 

I dont have a wideband to get the a/f right when I fire it up but I can borrow one. What do those of you without one do in this case? Tow it to you tuner and have him do it or just fire it up? My setup has changed a little bit but I dont know if my old tune would be fine to start it and drive it to get it tuned.

 

so on a fresh motor... how many miles (kms) do you guys that DONT break in on dyno put on your motors before first oil change

 

Like others have stated everyone has an opinion on this, but many use no breakin whatsoever and have very good results. This is what I did.

I changed the oil twice after the first fire up. Started her up let her idle for ~10mins, changed the oil and filter. Did this to get rid of any debris left over from the machine shop. Then I looked for leaks, started her up again and let it idle a bit longer (til I couldn't take the fumes!! 1000cc injectors untuned will make ur head hurt a bit. ). Changed the oil and filter again (just cause I'm paranoid) then took it to the dyno.

Have not done a comp test (driven it about 2k miles or so), but I have done a leakdown and I have 0% leakdown on all cylinders.

As far as rings seating, it doesn't completely happen even on the dyno from what I understand. It takes some miles for them to completely seat (something like 1000-2000). This is just from the top of my head, I could be wrong, I'm sure if I am I will be flamed....I mean corrected here shortly.