shotgun_000

I know that this question has been asked over and over again, but I feel the answer will vary with each engine, especially a performance engine.

I have driven it fairly easy, being sure to vary the engine speeds. Also, I have tried to keep the RPM's at 3K or less (It is hard to with 3.70 gears :D)

The shop that built my engine said 600-700 miles is sufficient. Just change the oil and hammer it. Currently, I have logged 315, and the urge to hammer it is overwhelming; Especially at redlights, with rice cars reving their V-Crap
Weed Trimmer engines at me :mad

At the same time, I feel that 600 miles may not be enough. Should I log 1,000 miles or more?

So far, though, the engine is great. Has a smooth low growl at idle, and revs up very nicely. It doesn't take much pedal to get up to speed. Can't wait to head to the strip :yesnod: :cheers:


[Modified by shotgun_000, 6:56 PM 11/17/2002]

GrandSportC3

I put 1000 miles on the car before hitting the rev limiter for the first time... :D

:cheers:

Olivier

Corey_68

I put about 600 miles on a new motor before I give it WOT. I have several friends/engine builders who seat the rings and take it to the track that night. They say they break it in they way they will use it. :cheers:

OHSIXX

I have about 750 miles on mine and still have not got on it hard. As the miles increase, so does my driving style. Plan to take it sorta easy up to 1000 miles just to make sure.

Gordonm

I drove maybe 100 miles before letting it rip. Most drag motors are taken to the limit very early in their life. Granted they do not need to last long but the engine builders told me to drive it like it was going to be driven. I have over 5K on it know and it runs great. It did start to rev a little easier after 500 miles and really came on strong after 1000 but they were not easy miles.

SanDiegoPaul

The last engine I built w/my own two hands was an L-82 Vette motor I installed in my '70 Nova with a Turbo 400. It ran GREAT!!! but it burned oil.
I regretted not boring it and installing new pistons because I drove the crap outtta the car and it always burned oil even though it ran like a bat outaa he** for all the time I drove it!!!!!!

I'd run a quart at every 700-800 mile interval. It Sure was a kick-butt car though. I got the engine from Chevrolet as one of their 'early 80s engines that had a flat cam. When I built the engine I used every tool, and everything I'd learned in years of hot rodding, to put it together. To my credit though, it never broke! I went through two turbo 350's :smash: before putting a new turbo 400 in the car. Then I went through two 10-bolt axles before buying a 12-bolt posi. :yesnod:

MotorHead

My engine builder told me that because of the high precison bearings that are used today no real break in period is needed. They will build a motor, immediately put it on the dyno and rev it to 7 grand. Would be difficult to build and test motors if you had to wait 500 - 1000 miles before you could put it on an dyno.

That being said there is no way I would ever rev the crap out of a new motor I paid for until at least 1000 miles. :D

Vetterodder

The main concern is ring seating. While there is some break in of the bearings, that occurs within a few minutes of initial start up. If you're using moly rings (combined with a proper hone for them), they seat much faster than non-moly rings. A major clue as to if they're seated yet is oil consumption. It's normal for new rings to cause more oil burning but, if all's well, consumption should gradually decline as miles are put on. If you closely monitor oil consumption and see that it's minimal, it's probably safe to drive it hard. After reringing my engine I tried to be gentle on it for as long as I could but couldn't resist the urge for long :). It used about 1/4 quart of oil in the first 100 miles and less than half that amount in the next 100 miles. Since then, I haven't been able to detect any oil consumption. My car is a weekend toy that only gets a couple thousand miles a year so it never sees more than about 1,000 miles between oil changes. I'm sure I'd be able to measure some oil loss if it were driven more but, as it is, it uses less than 1/8 of a quart between changes.

Jazn74

The faster you drive it the less time you need to wait to break it in.
So, you go 140mph, figure it will be broken in in oh, 35-40 miles.
:lol:
The last post is correct, seat your rings. Drag cars are built and driven umercifully because if something goes wrong they can and will tear the engine down the next day.

gkull

Nice choice on the cam. I solved my breakin and couldn't wait to floor it problem by taking a nearly 1000 mile round trip on a weekend. At some point during the trip to motor just freed up the oil pressure dropped slightly.

I ran the Crane 272 for years with 1.6 roller tips. The Performer is a restriction to performance in the low 5000 rpm range. I would stay with 1 5/8th headers unless your plan is to jump the next step into stroker motors.

I had Headmans 1 5/8th and they are near equal length quality headers.

bence13_33

Do you want me to tell you the truth or lie to you :D. Most people will say 3000 miles. I was told by Gordon that so long as you have moly rings they should break-in during cam break-in. I went 25-50 miles before I began revving it out to 6000-6500RPMs. My motor has around 3000 miles on it now....and runs perfectly. I should also point out that within my engine "break-in period" I made 27 passes down the 1/4 mile at my local track :D.

There have always been two schools of thought when it comes to breaking a motor in. Take it easy for the first 1500-3000 miles...or run 'em like you're gonna run 'em. You need to decide which :).

shotgun_000

[QUOTE]The Performer is a restriction to performance in the low 5000 rpm range.QUOTE]

I agree with that. My funds were about out, as I neared completion of this project. I could have installed the Performer RPM intake, but I would have had to put a Holley carb on, $300+ dollars I still don't have. So, to keep my Q-Jet, I decided on the Performer intake.

I could have purchased the RPM Q-Jet manifold, but I still want to change to a Holley later.

How much will the Performer hurt, in terms of hp and torque? I don't really plan on reving much past 6K. Will the headers be a worthwhile addition, considering the restrictive intake? I think I might go with the Dynomax 1-5/8 coated headers, or something similar.

My final goal is to get at least 350hp from this engine, and close to 400 lb.-ft. of torque. Will this be possible with the Performer? Otherwise, I'll start saving for the drop base air cleaner, and rpm intake :cheers:

wallyknoch

If it`s done right, just press on the GAS and have fun. Thats why you built it isn`t it. If it`s not correct no amount of miles are enough, take it apart and do it right. :D :cool: :cheers:

gkull

I just know from rear wheel dyno runs on my 355 10.7:1, 272 crane cam, 1.6 rockers, P&P 186 casting double humps with 2.02/1.6 manley race flow valves, no emissions, headman headers, 2.5 duals with 3 inch glass packed race mufflers.

I had a edelbrock 600 at the time on the stock L-82 aluminum manifold. We did base line runs and set jetting and timing for max power. Then we put on the E Performer after some port matching and the numbers were exactly the same within + or - a couple. They both really took a nose dive over 5250 rpm. So I went over and bought the Edelbrock 750 thinking that the carb was the restriction. The power was the same with maybe a slight gain over 5000 rpm.

I was pretty dissapointed for the amount spent compared to the amount gained. So my neighbor had a Weiand Excelerator single plane on the shelf. I really did a nice job of port matching to my FelPro 1205 intake gasket size heads. That's all it needed. That motor would rev to 6500 with no problem and on later cams and heads 7000+

I would install a Weiand Stealth before some over rated over advertised Edelbrock.

shotgun_000

Thanks for the info :cheers:

In about two more weeks, I should know for sure what it will do:reddevil

I guess at that time I can make a better decision on future mods.

The Weiand sounds like a good idea. I think that they are lower profile than the RPM, which is a good thing for C3's :cheers:

The Money Pit

I flattened the cam in the 406 after only 2000 miles and had to tear it down. The cylinder walls still had the hone marks on most of the bore which tells me it takes quite a few miles to really seat things. I too have been impatient and have revved to 6000+ rpms with no adverse effect on the engine,but don't recommend the drop her in,break it in on the way to the track approach.