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Running in a built engine

If i ever pick up a new performance car it'll be booked into a rolling road the day i pick it up. I've always said that.
 
With mine,

Went easy on it for the first couple of hundred miles (lot's of varied driving through the rev range pre 6k & always getting it up to temp).

Hit 800 miles and started giving it a bit more.

Hit 1k & gave it the beans.
 
I put my turbo engine in another car with no turbo on it to run it in for about 800 miles.

started off not going above 4k but with lots of heavy load accelerations then started revving it a bit more when I got to about 700 miles.

its now in my car with a turbo on it and seems to be holding up well with regards to the colour of the exhaust gasses
 
On the other hand, my LCR engine I built, (well refreshed) left the garage at full throttle until 5krpm, but that was also seeing 28psi, then off until 1500rpm and repeat 50 miles later, new oil and given all it had.
 
Avoid very high RPM initially is the key thing, but a reasonable amount of load does no harm and in fact does plenty of good.

As Dan says we spent the first 20 mins or so only going upto 4K rpm but with deliberately lots of on the throttle then off the throttle etc, ie not sat on a cruise as its the variation in load that is required, Im 400 miles in now and am using upto 6k and half a bar of boost and as soon as I get a chance to change the oil at the weekend I will be upping the boost and rpm further.


Over the years I have got more and more aggressive with running engines in, I used to be VERY gentle but over time Ive found its simply not required, although that said it did still work very well so I dont believe its a problem like some people claim it is.


It does depend on honing techniques as well though, if you are talking machine honed motorbike engines under tight control then they have a much more consistent and accurate finish than any of us will achieve with a flexhone in our workshop etc, so dont think that rules that apply to one will automatically apply the same to another.
 
Only new car I've every had or ever will have got warmed up and then given death from that minute on, think it had around 25 miles on the clock when I got it. Made over book power and torque with about 900 miles on a RR where everyone was making or being just under book figures. Never used oil, set the fastest 1/4 mile time for a standard SR180 on TOC etc etc. Defo better to run it in hard ime.
 
Djw John said:
Only new car I've every had or ever will have got warmed up and then given death from that minute on, think it had around 25 miles on the clock when I got it. Made over book power and torque with about 900 miles on a RR where everyone was making or being just under book figures. Never used oil, set the fastest 1/4 mile time for a standard SR180 on TOC etc etc. Defo better to run it in hard ime.
Click to expand...

Again though, dont confuse a new engine that has been built to totally different standards of honing to a rebuilt F4R like most people reading this thread will be interested in.
 
Knuckles said:
That 'quick method' site hurt my eyes. The jist I got was rag the tits off it for the first 20 miles to make the piston rings set somehow?
Click to expand...

You should use plenty of throttle, but not plenty of RPM, thats my own opinion, I used to be a lot more gentle on the throttle but have found it does get a good seal more quickly with use of the throttle, but I do so all in short bursts, so lots of throttle in 2nd and 3rd upto 4k or so and then raise that rpm and which gears as you get more miles in.
 
Fred said:
belt the back doors off it with some naff oil - done

i remember "running in" Steve's V6 round Bedford LOL
Click to expand...

While I disagree with the implied revs of doing it your way, I totally agree on the point you are making about naff oil, very important not to use a fully synth oil while running in, you want cheap rubbish mineral oil only.
 
Fred said:
meh, i built it therefore if it goes bang its my issue!
Click to expand...

Lol, agreed, I still wouldnt personally be heading straight for the rev limiter though, especially in an F4R where the piston speeds are so high they would make an F1 team nervous.
 
New car -as the dealer said when i picked mine up the other week the one driven hard from day one are always better , and have adopted this for ever new car we have had .

Rebuilt engine , all of my race engines were done on a dyno before i picked them up ..........

you want to try running in a 2 stroke that normally revs to 22k and has a life of about 2 hours between rebuilds ...... those were the days ..... and the amount i have had go pop whilst running them in :)
 
a lot of these running in myths stem from the early days when machining wasn't as accurate etc, the main reason to run in a NEW car is to scrub the tyres and brakes, sod all to do with the engine IMO

various engine builders have different opinions, but mine is if somethng is going to go bang why delay it by 1000miles @ 4000rpm - it'll still go bang regardless!

first start fine, high load low rpm until its hot, then gradually go more and more illegal :D
 
Fred said:
a lot of these running in myths stem from the early days when machining wasn't as accurate etc, the main reason to run in a NEW car is to scrub the tyres and brakes, sod all to do with the engine IMO
Click to expand...

Agreed but when most of us are building engines now who dont work for a manufacturer we are doing so with out of date equipment by comparison.
What do you use to rehone a bore after a rebuild with new rings for example? Personally I use a flexhone which is the best thing available to a home mechanic or small business IMHO, but its certainly not upto Honda standards, lol


various engine builders have different opinions, but mine is if somethng is going to go bang why delay it by 1000miles @ 4000rpm - it'll still go bang regardless!
Click to expand...

This is true, if you have got something wrong in the build, you cant fix it by driving gentley, lol

Friend of mine had a cossie engine built by quite a well respected engine builder and was being told it was using oil (a LOT of oil too, like a litre in a 1000 miles of normal road use) because it wasnt yet run in properly, and he'd done 800 miles on it!


first start fine, high load low rpm until its hot, then gradually go more and more illegal :D
Click to expand...
Agreed, start with lower rpm and build up, I think most of us agree on that, its just the rate of buildup that varies, I find the more engines I do the more I increase the rpm sooner TBH, and its yet to introduce a problem for me, but im still conservative compared to some.
 
i don't touch flexihone's, anything like that and the block is delivered to the machine shop with new rings "sort that out, call me when its done"
 
I do the same for any proper build that I am doing, ie my recent turbo build for example.


Trouble with that for just a basic freshen up though is, if the engine is still in the car, its not that easy to drop off for a quick re-ring, lol
 
Fred said:
i don't do anything quick mate, sponsored by Guinness you see ;)
Click to expand...

You never just do stuff like re-ring a tired motor while its still in situ?

I realise that in doing so it will never have the life expectancy of a fully rebuilt engine with new pistons of course, but I view it as a great way to add a load of miles to what it will last for when it gets tired, especially on some cars where its so easy to do, I can happily re-ring a tired 20XE engine in situ in an afternoon for example, and therefore for sub 200 quid in bits and a few hours of time I can give it a new lease of life for a fair while.

I'd love to have the budget and time to only ever do totally full rebuilds, but sadly its just not always realistic for me, especially on the time front.
 
My old mk1 f7r was a fresh build by nick hill, once warm it was heavy load with a self emposed limit of 4k, once a few hunfred miles on it the revs had a few short bursts to 6, and once at about 650 miles it was on a track day at combe with a full rev limit.

That thing never used a drop of oil, would run the 1/4 in 14.0 flat and would hit the limiter in 5th from a standing start in 28 seconds - with breathing mods and a gineric chip from nick it made 150bhp at the wheels on his rollers.

Thats the technique I use
 
My 200 was run in on the Nurburgring, should be interesting to compare it to others on a rolling road.
 
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