Engine and Transmission Tech

The time has come to finally break in my rover 5l stroker engine. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips? I've heard so many different things I don't know what to believe. I'm also running a hydraulic cam ( crower 50230) if that changes anything.

I've heard some good things about this article but its hard to believe everything you read.

[www.mototuneusa.com]

Thanks for any advice.

You need an engine oil that has ZDDP, not the diesel kind, the car kind. I used to recommend STP oil treatment because it had so much ZDDP, but that stuff is way too high in viscosity. I put some into the crankcase of my rebuilt Ford 223 truck engine, and it wouldn't develop oil pressure because the STP wouldn't pump up. Eventually, it did and my engine's running fine, but I learned a lesson.

GM used to sell something with ZDDP called EOS. If your vehicle doesn't have a cat, you might look into that. Otherwise, you'll need to find the motor oils that have 1200 ppm of ZDDP. Again, don't use diesel oil. It has a different kind of ZDDP.

Robert, besides the risk of your flat tappet cam, going flatter, is the risk of the newer type rings not, "bedding-in" properly. You didn't state your ring type? "If" your bores were, "plataue honed", you will need to load them right away, upon initial fire-up.! Company that made the rings ,should have correct "tech", for break-in proceedure. Now had you chosen a roller cam, You would'nt need all that zink ? Good Luck, roverman.

Robert,

Good advice re the oil. you can use any 20/50 which has the required ZDDP for the first running period of say 500 miles then change to a good quality mineral 20/50 again with the ZDDP, do not use syntheric.

As Art said running in the cam requires running the engine at 2-2500 RPM for 20 minutes but this is not good for bedding in the rings which need to be put under load as soon as you start the engine or you will glaze the bores.

I laboured over this for some time in respect of my new engine, in the end I decided to set the engine with a high 2000RPM idle and and just get on the road accelerating in a high gear to get pressure under the rings and changing down so I had some engie braking and then repeating this several times, do not allow the engine to labour though

The rings should bed in fairly quickly so you can then just finish off the cam break in procedure to complete the 20 min. requirement, also make sure the cam is liberally covered with the special cam lube.

Seems to have worked out ok with no apparent problems,

Kevin.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2010 08:22PM by castlesid.

Art, I wish I had a roller cam! However I can't afford one right now as a student haha. I'll certainly talk to the machinist regarding the bores.

Kevin, thanks for the advice. What do you mean exactly by labor? Letting the engine lug around at low rpm's?

The rear end also calls for its own special break in procedure so its going to be a hassle, but well worth it.

Clan, Even more data, Dow Corning and others, make excelent cam/lifter lubes, usually with moly. Theirs, you spray on cam lobes and lifters and let them "cure". Overnite? Got good brakes,(disk) in the back ? Good, that means you have a built-in friction dyno, to break-in the engine and rear. Say your build gives 18 hg., vac. at idle ? Get the rpm to 2k.-plus and load the engine to approx. 10 hg. ? Careful not to overheat the brakes or engine. By not driving during the break-in, you give full concentration to the task. Good Luck, roverman.

One small but important bit is making sure get all the air bled out of the coolant system. I have many engines that the gauge red hot due to air or spitting coolant out and it made me nervous about if I am over heating the new motor. Take your time and try to bleed the air out so you have a comfort level and I know almost 99% of us do it but a new thermostat is added insurance.

Like venting the cooling system, priming the oil system removes one more variable you might otherwise find real stressful and distracting.

I don't know how best to do it if you have a crank-driven oil pump, but if you have the earlier-style distributor driven pump I would strongly recommend removing the distributor and using an electric drill to drive the oil pump. If you're interested I can take a snapshot picture of the drill attachment I made for the job (almost twenty years ago.) It won't take but a few seconds with a hand drill to bring the system up to full pressure, fill the oil filter and galleys, get a flow of oil started through the rocker arms, etc.

Clan, One more, good reason to run an oil accumulator? A pre-charged accumulator ,for crank driven, oil pump engines, especially good. roverman.