Engine break in

[Skweegle89]

Have purchased several myself. put in several more for others. Have never seen one come with oil. I have seen a person purchase a crate motor in the turn key package that came with oil to be put in, but cam in qaurt container. Never seen any crate motor come with fluids in them.

Ok no worries. I still haven't ran the dipstick in it to check but either way I'm prepared. Was just curious what oil would be in it if had any.
Thanks for the reply.


Sent from an old rotary telephone.

 

[chengny]

There will be no lubricants in the engine (at least not in a liquid state).

DOT regulations classify an engine - or any other piece of machinery - containing petroleum based lubricants as "hazardous material". Hazmat shipping rates are a lot higher than standard freight rates.

I forget all my CFR's but, there may be a exception for machinery containing less than 1 gallon or something like that. This exception allows for shipping small engine driven stuff like lawn mowers and generators. But it applies only to lube oils - and then, only those with a flash point over some specified temperature.

 

[DoubleDingo]

The crate engines I bought back in '98 were dry and were straight from the dealer. Maybe the oil in '98 had enough zddp in it, but I never heard of cam failure or zddp in oil until I became a member on here. I always just ran the best oil I could afford and from companies that have been around for a long time, except Pennzoil, it gums up passages. I just put the oil in it, did the 20 minute break-in for the cam and then drove it for no more than 10 hours and drained and replaced the oil and then drove it normal for about 500 to 1000 miles and then changed the oil one more time. Of course those engines saw mostly highway miles from the beginning.

 

[77 K20]

Idk what they cost, but I'm not past looking into it. Thanks for the info. Kind of disappoints me that 30 years ago you could dump whatever you wanted in the oil pan or fuel tank and run these things for a quarter million miles, simple couple hundred dollar rebuild and you could do it again. Now we're hunting for the best additives and driving out of our way to find clean fuel without ethanol in it. That's progress for you I guess.


Sent from an old rotary telephone.

When I was active on the Audi lists because everyone was paranoid about turbo failures in the Audi S4 most were using Blackstone Labs at every oil change to look for excess metals from the bearings of the turbos. I never used them, but many others had and were very happy with them. $25 per analysis.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

[77 K20]

When I put a new cam into my old 400 engine after losing some lobes on the stock one I read until my eyes fell out. Seems everyone had an opinion on what would work, and how others will cause the planet for fall out of orbit and the sun to explode... well maybe not that bad, but quite a few haters out there.

For the break in oil I used Valvoline VR-1 racing oil. Race oil doesn't have all the detergents in it. After all at least with a new engine you shouldn't need detergents to get rid of sludge. And some said the detergents could interfere with the zinc and phosphorus. This oil had 1472 ppm of zinc and 1544 ppm of phosphorus in it. Both are important.

I ended up using the Lucas zinc additive, but not the whole bottle (only used just a little bit). Adding a 16 oz bottle to standard motor oil was supposed to bring zinc levels up to around 5,000 ppm of zinc which is then bad. If I remember right some say don't go above 2,000 ppm.

Once it was broken in I used Mobile 1 synthetic because it has a fairly high ppm of zinc, and then only added I believe was 2 oz of lucas zinc additive after each oil change. My dad has been doing the same thing on his '79 GMC K15.

 

[Skweegle89]

No matter where I looked I couldn't find a legitimate bad review for the comp cams break in additive. I will be using rotella, which has pretty good zddp numbers already, and the comp additive, then will probably use rotella for the life of the engine with frequent oil changes. I have 55 gallons of it so it only makes sense.


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[rich weyand]

Note that ZDDP is consumed during the oil change period. It gets bonded to the wiping surfaces by pressure, then wears off, but it was chemically changed during the process and so is not rebonded. So the ZDDP level in the oil declines from the time it is put in until the next oil change. That means that lower ZDDP levels, if accompanied by more frequent oil changes, is OK.

 

[Skweegle89]

Does everybody run a breather on one valve cover? The holes in my covers are too small for my breather.


Sent from an old rotary telephone.

 

[77 K20]

Does everybody run a breather on one valve cover? The holes in my covers are too small for my breather.


Sent from an old rotary telephone.

I have a breather in the passenger cover and the PCV valve in the other.

 

[rich weyand]

There are two differently sized rubber grommets. They fit in the same hole, but have different IDs depending on whether they are for the breather or the PCV valve.

 

[firebane]

There are two differently sized rubber grommets. They fit in the same hole, but have different IDs depending on whether they are for the breather or the PCV valve.

The grommets I got were the same for both the breather and the pcv valve. But I also used aftermarket valve covers.

 

[Skweegle89]

There are two differently sized rubber grommets. They fit in the same hole, but have different IDs depending on whether they are for the breather or the PCV valve.

No bueno. Even without the grommet, my breather is too big to fit in the hole. I guess what I'm asking is, is it vital to have a breather when I break this motor in in a little bit?


Sent from an old rotary telephone.

 

[rich weyand]

No bueno. Even without the grommet, my breather is too big to fit in the hole. I guess what I'm asking is, is it vital to have a breather when I break this motor in in a little bit?

No, you just need to keep dust and dirt and water from getting in there, while allowing air to get in to be drawn through by the carb through the PCV valve.