break in of new engine

Interesting. I think I followed this to a tee, without even knowing it.

haha ol' motoman

he may wear tight jean shorts but he sure knows how to run in an engine!

Great info, won't ever handle a new car gently now

im getting a new bottom end so I have been told do it fast and do it slow. I have had a read of the link and it makes sence. but has anyone tyred this out? anyone can put stuff on the net. actions speak louder then words my mechanic tells me drive it like normal let it come on boost but dont go silly for about 500km. been told take it easy for 3000km and then been told to thrash the ass out of it. ?

im getting a new bottom end so I have been told do it fast and do it slow. I have had a read of the link and it makes sence. but has anyone tyred this out? anyone can put stuff on the net. actions speak louder then words my mechanic tells me drive it like normal let it come on boost but dont go silly for about 500km. been told take it easy for 3000km and then been told to thrash the ass out of it. ?

I have done it with various engines, just keep the boost low (5-7psi) and give the thing a massive workout, take it easy at your own expense really.

It's interesting that his dyno run-in method even though its not technically his definition of heat cycling and that it is missunderstood is similiar to what we do to run-in small IC engines for RC racing, however our term/definition of heat cycling is not to heat treat the parts but to use a quicker method of running in our motors as they use a pinch system to seal the combustion chamber and not piston rings.

An example is initial running of the motor with a rich mixture setting at just over idle so it doesn't stall and to bring the temp up to around the 80-100C within roughly 2mins then shut the motor off to cool to air temp (generally you need a heat gun to aid in this process, plus I use the gun to intially warm it to about 70C to start the motor as the pressure a brand new cold engine puts on some conrod bushes due to pinch can wear them out within 2-4ltr's of fuel). I repeat the cycle for a certain number of times then I run my motors rich on track for another litre or so of fuel and that's it. Tune the motor for racing!

The rich settings are just to flush the motors of shaving and grit while running in, plus for extra lube.

We call it heat cycling only because the heat method for our engines expands the cylinder wall when hot and allows the piston to move with less friction and this heat cycling from cold to hot just runs the engine in quicker (polishing the bore and reducing the pinch for a good seal at operating temps which is generally anything from 80-120C).

Other methods I use are running in the engine on track with on and off full throttle with an extremely rich setting almost to the point of stalling.

Either way both of these methods I use for small IC engines worked well with the same style of engine failure's when the unfortunate times came which was always main engine bearings due to being to hot/lean in racing or just getting lazy and not changing them when I should have!

I say just drive the thing how most people would, giving it a squirt here and there or get your engine builder or tuner to run it in on there engine dyno if its a built motor.

Very interesting read though.