Break-in Bunk?

I will be breaking in some new rings and such in a few months and was prepared to do the slow and steady break in routine a lot of people prescribe...this makes me wonder.

Is this something worth considering?

www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Interesting. Is he selling anything break-in related?

Exactly, he's not selling anything. I am kind of tempted to try it out, I have heard others say to break it in hard. What harm could a harder break in do?

Only thing is that he keeps mentioning "new engine technology this and new engines that" I have an OLD engine that I will be ball honing this weekend...it doesn't have any crazy modern high tolerances, would this method still be suitable for me?

If you did not deglaze the cylinders don't worry about it, just ride the bike normally. If you did than run the bike at idle for about 45 minutes and than ride it normally.

I just glanced at the article and agree with a "Hard Break-in" I worked at an engine shop years ago and the break-in was done dependent on how the engine was intended to be run. Hard running engines-do it hard. Old lady engines-do it soft. :laugh: All kidding aside, I do agree. Just make sure you use a "cheap" mineral oil, do not use synthetic, for the break-in.

man, i dont know if this could be any use to you. Ive always done a break in method the same way from cars to bikes.
An expeienced vw/bike/trike mechanic told me a good way to properly seat rings is to bring the engine up to speed and down shift bringing the rpm's up and letting the motor slow the bike down. Repeat this a bunch of times.

It works, ive done it on many engines without any problems.

Break it in like your going to ride it. I have a friend that went to the drags the same day he put his engine together.

Mark

Mark Wing wrote:

Break it in like your going to ride it. I have a friend that went to the drags the same day he put his engine together.

Mark

I'm not sure I would go as far as going to the strip after the rebuild but I do 100% agree otherwise.

otakar wrote:

Just make sure you use a "cheap" mineral oil, do not use synthetic, for the break-in.

The whole oil thing is bugging me too, I have read all the oil threads, and googled it for hours. Why should you use mineral oil for the break in, both my car mechanic and my bike tech said the same thing. I also asked them about zddp additives, and they had no clue what I was talking about. My car tech works on old domestic v8's so I thought he would know but he said just use a quality mineral oil. I am using assembly lube, but I don't know if ZDDPplus is available here (canada), so I was just going to use Castrol for the first few hours of running, then drain and put in more castrol, then after a few hundred miles put in rotella T full synth. I am not asking what y'all use, cause I have already read all about it, but rather I am asking if this sounds like a decent plan. Thanks, and in a few months when I am done my project and have been able to run the bike and break it in I will post results in my project thread.

Anyone remember R.C. Engineering? My brother-in-law built a 1135cc motor ro drag race. R.C. parts were used and was told to assemble motor, do a hard burn-out and he was good to go. That's all he needed to do. Put a heavy load on motor for a short while and if the rings didn't seat, they weren't going to. Long break-ins weren't needed as modern rings seat very quickly. He never had any problems with motor afterwards. Personaaly, I'm not so sure I like that idea but I think R.C. knew a few more things then I do.

valvoline part#851 20w50 racing oil has that additive, and works great

racer54 wrote:

Put a heavy load on motor for a short while and if the rings didn't seat, they weren't going to. Long break-ins weren't needed as modern rings seat very quickly.

By saying "heavy load" they probably meant "High Cylinder Pressures".
I always broke in my fresh dragbike engines by first cranking it with the ignition OFF for about 30 seconds with the outboard starter to make sure oil got to the top of the motor. Then start and immediately bring the RPM's up to about 2500 to again make sure the cams were getting plenty of oil. Shut it down after it reaches full operating temp judging by the clutch cover starting to get warm, NOT hot! Let it cool down overnight. The next day at the track I would do 3rd gear roll on's from idle rpm to redline on the shutdown road to get the "High Cylinder Pressures" and seat the rings. After an hour or so cool down I would just run the "crap" out of it. My leakdowns were always better than my streetbikes and I never had blowby or oil consumption problems. I always used Weisco block/sleeve/piston/rings. just my .02 cents. YMMV