I'm going to be starting my new 355 up this week too. I have to take it easy on my new converter for 150 miles, and thats fine. But I think I'm going to listen to my engine builder about break in. Why?...He is the one warrantying it.

 

HAHAHAHA - this is what I did this time around and I have to tell ya I got NO blowby and NO knock retard except at shifts thank God. I broke this engine quick - used quick seat - and changed the oil a few times including 15 min, 15 mi, 200 mi, 550 mi. The filters all looked good - there was a tiny amount of metal in the second filter, none in the 3rd. This engine rocks, now I got to get serious about tuning it.

BTW - Dino = smashed leaves & dead dinosaurs & pteradactyls & dead ancient stuff crushed into oil

 

Amazing how that all works so well, Quick Seat and beating on it for break in.

Bret

 

What is "Quick Seat"?

 

Agree, and thank you guys for the tip - I got it from you all while I was building it.

Joe - Quick Seat is some moly based powdery stuff that you rub into your crosshatch before punching your pistons and bolting your heads on. Somehow, it seats the rings quick. I never used it before, but have to say that i am happy with the results in my limited experience. You can get it at Summit. Comes in a little flat container - but a little bit goes a long way.

 

Thanks for all the awesome info guys, I was going to respond earlier, but you guys kept giving out new ideas....I like all of the ideas, mainly because most of them hint that its ok to beat the **** out of it farily early

Ill let you guys know it how it goes in a new thread when I finally get the motor. It should be about another week or 2 as everything is getting balanced and assembled now.

thanks!

 

FYI: Dino oil as in from a dinosaur. An old carbon based creature not made by man as synthetics are.

 

Or maybe it's from animals and plants with a carbon/hydrogen makeup, and not just dinosaurs. Sinclair Oil Company made a big deal many years ago about "dino" il. There logo was a green dinosaur named appropriately enough "Dino."

So is oil still being "made" down inside the Earth's crust from things that died less than 65 million years ago?

 

I agree
Dino oil has a compound in it that adheares to the metal and cannot be removed even with cleaning(unless you sand/polish and remove metal). It is great for camshafts and is why it is used for flat tappet applications. In our auto tech we were building up what was basically a NASCAR equivalant engine with our instructor granted to say Comp Cams gave us a camshaft for it when we told him what we were tyring to do. All the break in was done with dino oil and everything--a couple little break in pulls and we got rocker noise so we tightened it down and ran it again and same noise only different ones. So we knew something was up. The Camshaft broke. Called Comp Cams and they wanted to know what we used to break it in. This was a solid roller as it was going to excessive RPM's I think the goal was 9,000 or so. had all the goodies: dry sump, shaft rockers, like the best you can buy all on someone else's budget. We got to talking to the guy and he claims he has been hearing more camshaft failures now than he has and doesn't know why. He says people are calling him up asking what Comp Cams is doing to their cams, and he says they are stonger than they have ever been, it's just that people are not breaking them in properly with the right oils/ weight and type. He also suggested dino oil on initial break-in.

Correct me if i'm wrong here, but remember reading there is/was a test done I believe it's ASTM standards or some standard for testing. You use three *****. They coated them in this oil and then some in just synthetics. They wipe all of the metal ***** clean and run the tests. The dino oil ball did not wear as much as the synthetic one did--mind you both of these were cleaned in a parts cleaner with solvents.

If it were my engine I would run Dino first to coat everything, then run a synthetic, after that initial adhersion with the dino oil was done. Kindof like what racerdude was mentioning. Dino fist then royal purple or so.

Then again I'm still using Valvoline Synthetic in my Camaro and Mobile 1 in my truck. I wish you could buy royal purple in normal auto stores.

P.S. I have tested royal purple by testing standards and controls in my fluids and lubricants class for a research project and it is the best oil I know of and have tested. Beat Valvoline, Mobil 1 synthetics, under high load and heat conditions. Not by a lot, but noticable difference. Each test was done high temp and cold and when i pulled it out of the freezer royal purple was at a higher temperature than all the other oils for some reason Can't explain why though. Maybe just the location in the refrigerator.

 

I did it the way Bret mentioned.. first oil change was after I made sure everything was OK and made a quick trip around the block to made sure it would drive correctly. After this oil change I took it out and beat on it.. let it cool down, took it out again, and beat on it some more. Changed the oil again.. beat on it, changed the oil... and now it's got 600 miles on it and runs like a champ, no blow by that I can see and runs like a champ.

I'm still running dino oil and will probably run it until 1k miles.

 

I skimmed through all the posts and was surprised I didn't see this:

VARY THE RPM's

Running at a constant RPM is another reason for poor ring seating.