Let me give you some history on what I’ve done so far on the break in process, before I ask my questions. I really need help from people that have been in this same situation or have good knowledge on it.

So I recently did a rebuilt JDM b16a swap into my ek civic. The motor turns over and fires up after a couple seconds. It used to rattle but my brother and I did the valve lash adjustment and the cam break in for 20 min. Now it sounds really smooth. We bled the clutch and heat cycled the cooling system, as a result the thermostat opens and the cooling fan works great. Next I changed the break in oil and filter and put more break in oil back in. After putting in a new tranny axle seal we added the Honda manual tranny fluid with no more tannny leaks so far. I had no knowledge or history on the trans that came with motor so i took it up the road keeping it under 3k due to the primary o2 sensor not working, and every gear sounded and worked great, even reverse did good too. So I know that I can take it onto the road and start the piston ring seating process without any other issues occurring to my knowledge.

I have been looking around online for days on how to seat them correctly but I get no exact answer nor do two people say the same thing on how to do it. I know if I screw this part up my motor will run crappy, and have a whole bunch of problems that I don’t want to deal with.

My question is, does anyone on here know how to correctly seat the piston rings?

My other question is, is there any other stuff I have to do to the motor during the break in process, or that I missed?

 

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

I'm concerned you may have already run the motor more than you should before doing the ring break in. Only time will tell on that.

 

People are very opinionated on their preferred break in process, and there are lots of ways to do it. Because of this, you won't get a straight answer and you'll read a lot of horror stories for using Method A instead of Method B, and vice versa. I basically follow the method outlined in the link that TomCat39 posted. I've successfully used this method on 2 of my own engines. Here's what I do:

1. Start with 10W-30 conventional oil, crank with no spark plugs and injectors unplugged until oil light goes out to prime the system.
2. Install plugs, connect injectors, crank engine and let it idle. Look for any leaks and shut down immediately if there are any leaks and fix the leaks. Allow it to run until the fan cycles once (on and off), shut off, drain oil, change filter, and add more 10W-30 conventional.
3. Crank engine and let it idle until the fan cycles once, then drive for about 5-7 miles in 1st and 2nd gear, revving up to about 5,000 RPM, and decelerating in gear to about 1,500 RPM. I try to stick to back roads in low-traffic time.
4. Drive like normal for 500 miles, then change oil and filter, replacing the oil with whatever you plan to use.

 

Ok it sounds like I’m on the right path. But do you think I can still seat my piston rings or do you think I have ran it too much at this point ?

 

Broke in several B series C1 engines I assembled as well as a brand new B18C5 crate long block engine I assembled using this method from BamBam and they all ran great, C5 is still running strong and is now on low boost 9+ years later knock on wood

Initial startup process for new cylinders/rings:
Fill the motor up with 30W non detergent oil (quality does not matter). Just buy the cheapest you can find. Also, pick up the cheapest oil filter you can find (usually Fram). Check the dipstick periodically to see when the oil pan is full. Try not to fill higher than the upper most dot on the dip stick. It should be around 4 quarts (remember, you need a little extra oil for the vtec oil line).
Fill the motor with a 50/50 mixture of coolant to water. Believe it or not, the more water this mixture has, the cooler the engine will run. But, you need antifreeze in colder climates to prevent coolant freeze/expansion, as well as to prevent the water pump and sleeves from corroding.
Now, disconnect the ecu and turn the motor over for roughly 30 seconds to build up oil pressure. This is the easiest way to ensure you will not be injecting fuel and spark into the cylinders. Reinstall the ecu you will be using.
Fire the motor up and check for leaks. Make sure the oil pressure light extinguishes immediately. If not, turn the car off and troubleshoot. Let the car reach full operating temperature. Immediately begin to tune the car for a 14.1-15.1 AFR. The closer to 14.7:1 the better. That's it. For the rest of the tuning, I'd suggest a street tune first then tune on the dyno, but every tuner has his/her own ways.
Oil changing schedule:
Initial - 30w non detergent
after 20 miles - 30w non detergent
after 100 miles - your favorite non-syn
after 500 miles - your favorite non-syn
after 1000 miles - your favorite non-syn/synthetic

You should stop seeing metal shavings in the oil after the 100 mile oil change. I strongly recommend using a magnetic oil drain plug for freshly built motors. You don't want all those shavings being pumped to the bearings, cams, or splashing on the cylinder walls...bad. Don't worry though, they will be there, no matter how close the clearances are.

Now for the break in, try to vary the revs as much as possible, with alot of short blasts. It is very important that you let the engine "brake" itself by just letting off the throttle and letting the vehicle slow down on it's own, while in gear. This creates a vaccum in the cylinder and forces the rings outward, which wears down the peaks in the cylinder's fresh hone. Do this for the first 20 miles, and then proceed to beat the **** out of the motor, up to it's maximum rev range, as long as it is tuned accordingly. As long as the bearings are within spec and the rod bolts were torqued correctly, there is NOTHING to worry about.

I guarantee you WILL NOT burn oil using this break in method. If you do, you probably have leaky valve seals or bad rings/cylinder hone.

 

You said you drove it on the road and kept it under 3K rpm (drove soft). You didn't say how far or how long you drove it like this.

This is the only area of concern. Personally, do the break in process, don't wait any more and go from there.

If you only drove a little bit then it shouldn't be an issue, if you drove lots of miles all under 3K driving softly, then it may be too late for "optimum" break in. Still should do the break in process anyway.

Meant to move this to the machining/assembly section as it's very relevant to finishing up an engine assembly.

 

Thats my bad, I should have explained better. By drove it on a road I mean up my street and back, which is probably less than an 1/8 of a mile combined

 

Again, I agree with TomCat - do the break in now before you drive it any further.

 

Agreed.

Once done, should be fine.