Breaking in an engine.....
 

Here is some information I want to get out there.

The 4g63 is not a small block Chevy. You do NOT crank it with the fuel disconnected or the ignition unplugged to prime the oiling system. If you truly wanted to try and prime the oiling system before starting a new engine you would need to leave the timing belt off and crank the oil pump seperately. Same thing if you DID have a small block Chevy, you'd spin the oil pump through the distributor hole.

This next stuff applies to OUR ENGINES. I don't care about some other shop or some other machine shop that did YOUR work. Don't ask as I could care less.

For our engines. IF you put your head on, timed it etc. and installed the engine in your car AND you have everything exactly right, the engine should start and run almost immediately after trying to start it. When it does hold the engine at around 1500-2000 rpm and let it stay there. Check it for leaks while it is doing this, check it for anything out of the ordinary. If you are using a standalone check the AFR's, look at the knock count etc. Dial in your AFR's a little so it is where it needs to be to run at this RPM. Hopefully you have a map that is right in the first place and you can just let it run. While the car is warming up the lifters will quiet down as the oil pressure builds and the air gets out of the lifters. Check the coolant, watch the coolant temps.

DO NOT just crank the engine to attempt to build oil pressure, it WILL BUILD INSTANTLY IF THE CAR STARTS.

ALL of our engines are built/assembled with a special lube. It is very sticky. I basically fill the crank shaft with it, so there is quite a bit of lube there and everything is very well coated. The engine could probably actually run with NO oil in it for a few minutes with no damage, we don't want that obviously.

Point is to TRIPLE check every single thing on the car first and then it should start instantly and run.

Once you are sure there are no leaks of any type and everything is tight and triple checked again you can either start some low throttle tuning or go for a drive.

As long as everything is 100% I could care less about a break in. Engines built here/assembled here and installed here are broken in on the dyno about 90% of the time. I have maps perfected for any combination we have. So the car is checked, loaded on the dyno. The idle, part throttle tuning is gone over and a few miles are put on the car at light loads to make sure it runs great and the AFR's are good. I do all the fuel mileage calibrations right on the dyno too. When this is done, the car is looked over again and then the tuning at low boost levels (20 psi or whatever) is done. I generally do the pump gas tunes first so the boost levels are lowest. As soon as they are done then the car is turned up and tuned on race gas if that is part of the build.

It is nothing to have a car with less than 10 miles on it at 40 psi of boost and 10,000 rpm. If it is going to fail then it is going to fail at that point and running it for 2,000 miles (whatever) easy is not going to change that. Running an engine for 2,000 miles to break it in is complete BS. It's most companies ways of getting you to take 6 months to be ready to run the car hard and by then they hope the warranty is over.

Very good info Dave, thanks. I did have one comment though. My would Mitsu recommend a break-in procedure if it really wasn't necessary? I don't agree with the 6 months to get comfortable before running the car hard and then warranty is over. Warranties are for 10yrs now. So back to the real question, why does Mitsu recommend a break-in procedure?

If anyone can chime in, please do, thanks.

I don't know, I don't work for Mitsubishi, I have no answer. Probably the same reason, more miles, less problems with easy driving.

its funny to cuz i see so many people buy evos new and they keep them under 5000 and never floor it, dont mod it, all ths stuff for like 500, 1000 miles. When the car is bought, it usually has 2-5 miles on it at least and by that time its broken in. I have bought 2 evos new and had them at redline and 140 mph right after leaving the dealer and I had no motor problems, other then blowing this motor up at 6700 miles due to me breaking it myself.

isn't it all for the "clutch" to settle...

if the oil pump is dry, no lube whatsoever, will the car still build oil pressure or should the pump be lubed up first? Just thin coating on the gearset should work, correct?

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

"Synthetic oil is so slippery that it actually "arrests" the break in process before the rings can seal completely" "I've had a few customers who switched to synthetic oil too soon, and the rings never sealed properly no matter how hard they rode."

Why would Mitsu use Synthetic from the factory? So all the Evo owners that did not drain the factory oil and switch to petroleum for 1500mi never seated their rings properly?

Mitbushi knows a lot more about the engine than you do. there is a break in for a reason and its not to prolong the hard use of it to hopefully get out of warranty. Since warranty is 60,000 miles. and I highly doubt anyone drives that much in 6 months.
Not breaking in a new or rebuilt engine is just, well. ignorant to say the least.

good post,

we put a 1/4" socket extension in the end of a dewalt drill, and put a 14mm socket on them... then we spin the pump at moderate speed until oil comes out of the squirters... works great... we do this even after we do headwork, such as valve springs, new valves. etc...

good pointer as always

cb

A buddy of mine that owns a shop says the same thing haha "Break it in on the dyno" The only reason I can see why you shouldnt get on the car too hard is for the clutch to settle properly.

your right, not breaking in an engine is ignorant, but a properly built engine doesnt need 1000 miles of easy driving. All you have to do is seat rings and remove the metal shavings from the oil. you use non synthetic oil and change it soon after starting it, run it for 100, 500, or 1000 miles and change it again. Not boosting it and keeping it under 3000 rpm isnt gonna do anything. its not like the motor knows how many miles are on it and after the magical number of 500 or 1000 its ok to beat on it now. good things to do are retorquing headstuds, exhaust manifold studs, etc...

if the tq capacity of the clutch is high enough then it should hold. A clutch doesnt need 500 miles to break in either, just needs multiple heat cycles so the discs dont get glazed. basically not TOO MUCH slipping at first. So banging gears and launching are a no no, but other then that, boosting it up and revving out gears should be fine

There really should be no metal shavings in the oil, if there is, there is a problem already.

When we do a large build here after the car is done and done on the dyno we pull the car back in, check it over. One of the things that are on the check over list is taking the oil filter off the car and cutting it open with a filter cutter. If there is any metal in the filter, the engine comes back out of the car, something is wrong. Luckily it has been a very very long time since we have had to take an engine back out. As a matter of fact, I'd say since we started the practice of checking we have not had to do one.

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buschur is a gangster!