About a year ago, I put a newly refreshed and .080 shaved P79 head on a used stock F54  block.  I have since rebuilt the block with new rings/bearings, etc. 

I also installed a .480 lift cam and new rockers/springs valve seals, and DSI swirl polished valves.  I'm running it all with FAST EFI from Zcardepot.  It all works great.

I've been breaking it in by running it at short full throttle bursts and engine braking down hills.  Never over 4k RPM and constantly fluctuating RPM/cruise speed.

I have put roughly 175 miles on it so far and have no reason to believe it is not breaking in properly.  Plugs look good, no smoke, no oil consumption so far, and it's making good power.

 

I met an acquaintance recently who has the same car sickness I do, except with Mitsubishi Monteros.  He has access to a paint booth and painting experience.  He says if I prep the car, he'll show me how to paint it in the booth.  I buy supplies. 

Can't beat that.  I'd like to get started right away so as not to waist the opportunity.   So my question is probably a silly one, but I'll feel better knowing for sure.

Will it be okay to let my newly rebuilt and hardly driven/not quite broken in motor sit for a few months before I continue the break in process?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

Once the motor gets back to room temperature that's it until you crank it again. Just oil it up real good and keep it oiled. That new cam and the valve train needs to be covered with oil always while it sits. You could turn it over by hand occasionally too to prevent any sort of spots, like rolling a car to keep from getting flat spots on the tires.

Might cause a fight in this thread but here it goes:

I thought the motor would be broken-in within the 175 miles that you drove, that's a lot of movement for the engine components.

> that new cam and the valve train needs to be covered with oil always while it sits.

Why? It's not moving, is there something special about the finish of the material that requires oil?

If the initial break in process is complete (first 50-100 miles?) then the oil should be replaced as the etching of the piston ring into the cylinder wall should be done, and we want all the metal out of the oil. Next service would be at ~1k...

But it seems like it would be past the point where it matters... I'm probably wrong though, so I would like to be "educated" on the matter.

 

PS: make a paint thread with lots of photos plz.

Edited March 23, 20213 yr by heyitsrama

Well, to be fair, I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a seasoned engine builder. Somewhere along the line I got that the 1st 20 miles of break in are critical, and the oil change/head bolt torque check/valve lash check interval would be at 250 miles. But for all i know the rings could at least be already set.  Should probably run compression/leak down test but everything seems normal so far. I'm pretty new to it all.

As  heyisrama says, most of your run in is already done so a few months of paint work isn't going to make any difference to your engine.  I'm in your court when it come to engine break in, lots of short bursts of acceleration followed by engine breaking. The rings and cylinder walls are the only things that are breaking in so put them work.  Nice to have friends with a paint booth😁

I'm far from an expert, but I've broken in two engines now, including one recently, so the info is fairly fresh in my mind, and my understanding is that the window of opportunity to set the rings is within maybe 50 to 100 miles. During the break in process you don't want to take it easy (except at first). Previously the thought was that you have to baby your engine for the first thousand miles, which from what I've read is the opposite of what you want to do. Cylinder pressure will force the rings out toward the cylinder walls, thus breaking them in and creating a good seal, so based on my research, what I ultimately ended up doing is starting off easy, going up to about 3000 rpm and about 1/2 throttle, and gradually working my way toward redline and full throttle, and engine braking/letting the car slow down on its own between acceleration runs. Then change oil. Lots of info out there supporting variations of this method.

2 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

PS: make a paint thread with lots of photos plz.

I will. Bodywork is not my strong point so I'll have to doctor up the photos haha. But I got started today, in the spirit of pictures or it didn't happen.

No decent pictures of the engine build. The phone is too low end for anything close up.