Quote:
Originally Posted by Racer x
I'll check into this.
Does anyone have recommendations on breaking in a new race engine. I use the Moto man break in method for most all my engines. But how should I go with no dyno or ability to ride on the street?
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I would make sure it fires up, but not run it much without load. Probably take it to a parking lot like Racin' suggested. Somewhere you can ride it and open the throttle enough to get some decent load on it. Let it cool, and do it again.
When I was racing karts we would just run them in practice, being slightly less aggressive on max revs than usual, but give them plenty of load. Seemed to work well.
I just don't like "soft" break-ins where the engine is idled for an extended amount of time or ridden very mildly. You need pressure and load to seat the rings.
Actually, I'm going to see a former Nascar engine builder in a few minutes, and I'll ask him what he suggests. He builds Ferrari and Porsche race engines for local teams, and is building a RD350 engine that I'm doing some coating work on.
EDIT: He said that riding under load would be the best if you can't use a dyno. Let it warm up for a minute of two, then ride with moderate load revving up to about 1/2 of redline and varying the load/rpms for about 20 minutes. Use conventional oil like Rotella T, and change it after you are done that day, then run a full synthetic. Extensive break-in isn't necessary in his opinion. He also has built Pro Stock motorcycle engines. He said they would start them up on a dyno, warm them briefly, and go right up to the rev limiter. That's mostly because the lifespan of the engine wasn't very long, so they didn't put any more run-time on it than necessary before racing.