Well.....is she ready? I beat on it for almost 2k already
thanks
Marcin

 

at what intervals did you change it so far?

 

It will be fine.

Take care.

 

Vettes use synthetic from the factory. Just a thought.

 

That thot to me, means little, if one is concerned with acquiring a quality ring/wall compression seal. And what do you believe is the overriding factor as to why oem puts the synthetic in new engines? A hint; not for most effective breakin, AFAIC.

Owner/customer is more apt to use a product if it is part of the oem factory install. From my POV, anytime oem can potentially add a little insurance when it pertains to their product remaining maintenance free for the life of the warranty, they will gladly do it, even if it may sacrifice a little performance (read ring seal). They (oem) are viewing circumstances long term, not the first (critical for breakin) few hours.

There is also a good reason why motorcycle oem recommend the 'soft' breakin procedure they do. It is done so, as an attempt to keep owners from killing themselves, and kneejerk reactions.....lawsuits.

Both above examples have performance goals playing second fiddle. Just makes logical financial sense to me.

 

Corvette, Viper, Aston Martin, Porsche.... there are a number of them doing it.

Reason?

They have control over the process. The OEMs know what procedures are necessary for ideal bore finish. They also choose the ring materials. In other words, they know what it takes to make the engine seal with synthetic in it from day one.

For a rebuild, none of that matters... use dino oil, then make the switch after break in.

-Mindgame

 

Makes sense. Mindgame to the rescue once again.

 

My personnal opinion, based on a number of factors that I won't bore you with, is this; Change the oil at 50, 500, 1500, 3000 & 6000, using Dino oil, then switch to Synthetic oil at the 9,000 mile mark.

For those who use extended drain interval oil, like Amsoil High Performance or Series 2000, continue to change the FILTER at 3,000 mile intervals, and top off with fresh oil.
The OIL may last a long time, but it gets dirty just as fast.

 

Marcin, it would be just fine to use synthetic now. Change over and ignore the many rocket scientists who would lead you to believe otherwise.
Within the next few years ALL cars will be using synthetics. Hey, its the twenty-first century after all.

 

Hell, that's more miles than most circle track engines see in a lifetime (B4 teardown). It doesn't take them long to breakin the engine.

 

It would be fine to use synthetic oil now. As posted many manufacturers pit it in right from the factory. Main difference is most use rings that will seat almost imediatly knowing that the customer wouldn't follow break-in procedures even if they were given them. I have seen engines have major ring seal problems from using synthetic oil from initial start up.

I would wait till the rings have fully seated before switching to synthetic oil. I would put a semi synthetic oil in at 6k and switch to full synthetic at 9k.

my 2 cents.

 

Good machine shops will use a "plateau" surface finish on the cylinder bores. That's what is needed with modern piston rings, and it works great with older ones too. This type of cylinder finish is fine with synthetics from the word go. Any shop that doesn't know about such finishes, or isn't capable of doing them, should be avoided. The days of hogging the metal out with a 280 stone and throwing in a set of rings, and then waiting 5000 miles for them to "seat" are long gone.
These days an extensive break-in period is just a way of excusing poor engine building practices. If it wasn't built properly in the first place, all the break-in in the world won't fix a bad hone, or poorly prepared crankshaft, or a bell-mouthed valve guide, or a tapered big-end bore.......or whatever.
Remember too that every engine installed in a new car was given a test-bench run, at full throttle, to determine if it was built properly. So much for the idea that the engine has to be babied around on dino oil for "break-in".

 

I agree, extensive no, but dedicated yes. That implies the correct procedure will have an impact on the engine performance. By performance, I am referring to function, as well as efficiency.

Remember too that every engine installed in a new car was given a test-bench run, at full throttle, to determine if it was built properly. So much for the idea that the engine has to be babied around on dino oil for "break-in".

Agree about the 'babied' part, but how long does that full throttle run last. As you stated, purpose is to make sure parts move and hold together, not intended to be legitimate/dedicated ring breakin, AFAIC. Similar procedure is done on motorcycle engines. BTW, is the oil used to initial start engine at factory, left in or changed? Ever take delivery of a new vehicle, and note the 'crap' (haze) in the engine oil, when drained at under 50 miles? Didn't state 500 miles, but 20-50 miles. This is not from a new oem engine of decades ago, but a high tech/perf engine of today. What is found, is a product of not just the initial full throttle run. If it is not there, is it the oil, or the operator, not allowing it to materialize? A dedicated breakin can be accomplished effectively, in this amount of miles, btw. Some may not value this info enuf to give 3¢ for it. Consider it FFT, however. If owners of new vehicles are confident a synthetic will allow proper (read most effective) breakin, go for it.

 

Another thing that seems to be forgotten here is running dino would not hurt anything, many an engine has exeded 200K on dino, if you decide to play it safe and runit for the first 5-10K you are doing no harm. When I get around to a rebuild I will run dino for the first few thousand, but it will be mostly for the economic benifits of dino since right after a rebuild I think it is universally accepted that you want to change the oil at very short intervals just to clean out and machining and ring seating debris. Why pay for synthetic during that time when dino will not hurt anything?

 

I've changed the oil 4 times during the first couple weeks of my rebuild for various reasons. It's cost me about $50 total for dino oil as compared to probably about $120 for synthetic, so this is definetely a valid point.