engine break in?

[WangonwWarrior]

Im almost done with my KA24det ive been building. I put new rod bearings and main bearings on the engine along with all the other gaskets etc... The cylinder walls and piston rings were fine so i left those in and did not replace them. I have installed my turbo kit and safcII and i do not want to drive the car until its tuned on the dyno. My question is do i need to break this engine in before it goes on the dyno? Or do you only need to break it in when new rings and pistons are installed? This might be a stupid question but i cant find anything on it... I just want to know if it is safe

[s13boy89]

i think they could break it in on the dyno

[boosted98gst]

Originally Posted by WangonwWarrior

Im almost done with my KA24det ive been building. I put new rod bearings and main bearings on the engine along with all the other gaskets etc... The cylinder walls and piston rings were fine so i left those in and did not replace them. I have installed my turbo kit and safcII and i do not want to drive the car until its tuned on the dyno. My question is do i need to break this engine in before it goes on the dyno? Or do you only need to break it in when new rings and pistons are installed? This might be a stupid question but i cant find anything on it... I just want to know if it is safe

Every engine build ive done Ive ran cheap oil through the first 1k mile changing it out the first 100 checking the filter by cutting it open, then 300, 500, 800 then 1000, then switched over to full synthetic, ive had everything from 540 awhp evo to a 601awhp dsm and now a rb25det coupe, synthetic is too thin for engine break in period imop , you need somthing cheap that sticks to parts better then synthetic

[gijoe69]

umm.......how are you gonna get the car to the dyno? drive? trailer? I say screw the dyno just drive it until, you think its broken in then dyno it .....

[TravisSW]

Personally, this is my plan for my KA-T:

Build up the motor internally, once that is done. Run it N/A for a while to get things breakin in and ready to go. After a couple of months and funds renew AND when I feel comfortable with it, I'll plop on the turbo accessories.

[Massimo Power]

Just drive it to get it tuned and tune it and break it in on the dyno. If you had piston rings installed thats when the big break in takes affect. I would suggest as stated above to run regular oil in it for the first 1k miles n do a few oil changes in between to get rid of the break in metal. Other than that you should be fine. When i fully built my motor it went staight on the dyno with a hard break in and straight to a time attack only 200 miles later.... been running perfect ever since with very exceptional compression.

but good luck... !

[WangonwWarrior]

Yes you guys are correct about breaking it in with cheap motor oil then switching to synthetic (that is what i did on my last NA KA build everyone reccomends doing that) I can just throw the car on the trailer and haul it to the dyno. I have even considered TravisSW's plan and add turbo parts after the break in, the thing about this is look at cars that come from the factory with turbo chargers- they are broken in with all the turbo parts in tact BUT they are already set up: air/fuel/boost from the factory.

[WangonwWarrior]

I just dont want to drive my car around town during the break in period with it running way to rich... i cant afford to build another engine right now

[nismo tuned s14]

When I was breaking mine in, i changed the cheap oil and filter after babying it for 1k miles. Then I stayed under 7-8 psi for the next 1-2k miles. It's still running extremely well 17k miles later.

[SexPanda]

417racing.com • View topic - How to break in a New engine

there ya go.

[pinkarrowsnow]

Break it in the mototune way Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power thats how I plan on doing mine when I finish my build in a week or so.

[hunter8411]

I may be wrong here, but I thought the purpose of the break-in period on the car was to allow the piston rings to set properly with the Cylinder walls. Now since you did not replace them at all, then they should not need to be broken in right?

(Someone please let me know if I'm wrong)

Although personally I would still take it easy for the first 500-1000 miles or so to make sure it is all working fine.

When I broke in my newly built motor I did it the mototune way and it seems to have worked fine.

[RedtopTech]

Well piston ring gaps are indexed when installed to reduce the amount of blowby. They are worn into the cylinder walls in there installed location. Once they are removed and reinstalled, they wear into the new location because the crosshatch on the walls wont be prominant enough without being honed.

[WangonwWarrior]

Originally Posted by hunter8411

I may be wrong here, but I thought the purpose of the break-in period on the car was to allow the piston rings to set properly with the Cylinder walls. Now since you did not replace them at all, then they should not need to be broken in right?

(Someone please let me know if I'm wrong)

Although personally I would still take it easy for the first 500-1000 miles or so to make sure it is all working fine.

When I broke in my newly built motor I did it the mototune way and it seems to have worked fine.

exactly my question^ i think the bearings just need a few miles (like 100miles maybe) and they will be fine.


correct me if this is bad: I am going to put the stock injectors on my KA instead of the sr 370cc and run them for a few hundred miles and stay out of boost. That way it will not run rich it will run lean if i get into boost but ill stay out while the small injectors are in. Sounds like a good plan to me, what you guys think?

[pwr-adr]

its what I did with my ka-t.

[ericcastro]

Sounds like it might work better.

And if you are thinking of Dyno, before the break in, go on youtube and look up dyno engine explosions and such

[SexPanda]

Well, one thing you DONT want to do is run your engine lean...

If you dont know what happens when your engine is run too lean. Its not pretty. Find some medium sized injectors between stock KA and stock SR if you can.

[surge s14]

i havent decided how to breakin my engine yet

new pistons, rods, bearings, valves, springs, 740cc, gt2871r

and no tune...yet

what the best route i want a reflashed ecu thou

[WangonwWarrior]

Originally Posted by SexPanda

Well, one thing you DONT want to do is run your engine lean...

If you dont know what happens when your engine is run too lean. Its not pretty. Find some medium sized injectors between stock KA and stock SR if you can.

well if i run the stock injectors and stay out of boost then it should not run rich, but you never know. i have a big ass exhaust and its still going to be pulling some air in even out of boost thats why im afraid it might run lean. Ill run it for a little while with the stock injectors and check my plugs to see what is going on

[S14DB]

If the rings were reused and the bores not honed then all you need to do is get the oil primed before starting. Still need to change the oil and filter after 500miles as the bearings break in and wear off imperfections.


As far as oil. Organic and Synthetic of the same weight, WEIGH THE SAME AND ARE THE SAME THICKNESS(viscosity). Stop this ignorant bullshit that a synthetic is thinner then a organic. The label on the bottle is the weight/viscosity. 10w-40's are all the same weight. If you want to talk about friction, hell, lets talk about backpressure then too...