Best ways to run in a fresh forged engine

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TBOWGN

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So im getting pretty close to having my fully forged engine complete and im wondering how to drive it for the first few hundred k's up to 1000 k's....

Ill just be running mostly everything standard including ecu and boost over this period...

Ive been recommended to put the RVR on a dyno and run it for around 200k's to check oil leaks and to keep it under 4000rpm....

After that, ive been recommended to keep it under 4000rpm and not to have it sitting on the same revs on the highway for extended periods...

This is supposed to be my daily and for years to come so its being built for reliability with a sprinkle of mustard under the accelerator.

What have you guys down with your engine run ins? There must be a few ways to do it.

Cheers, Lars
 
I thought it was important to get the AFR's good pretty soon after building to prevent glazing? Aren't the stock maps very rich?
But... I'm just regurgitating crap that I've read somewhere. Makes sense though.
 
I would have thought aslong as you warm the engine to operating temp just go for it lol they dont run 1000hp built engines for thousands of kms before they bash on them do they?
 
Don't let it idle too long, don't run it rich, use a good quality mineral oil (not synthetic) and a good oil filter for the first few hundred then go the good oil. Once you know it's not leaking fluids or air, get on boost occasionally (it's not made of glass!). After you drop the the run in oil, drive it as you like. Good idea to disassemble your first couple of oil filters to see what's getting trapped.
 
Give the engine load asap, after a system check for coolant and oil leaks. Dump that oil and filter after the system checks and refill with a non synthetic oil. Load it up asap to bed the rings in. No need for "hundreds of kilometres" run in. You can tell on the dyno when the rings are bedded in... the crank case breathing abates ... It is then time for power runs. How do you think we "run in" our non registered dedicated track cars ! I've built and run in scores of engines this way over the last 25 years, and it works fine for me . Essentially the equivalent of 20km running on the dyno with varied load and revs is plenty.
 
Has anyone disconnected the waste gate actuator so minimal boost it being produced?
As more of a vacuum is going to be a benefit than positive pressure?

Mike do you just get it to normal operating temp at the first start up, turn off, change oil then start to bed in rings?
 
If the actuator is disconnected from the wastegate flapper, it wont make any boost ! Sam, essentially yes regarding warmup to op temperatures. Don't bother disconnecting the actuator... read my post above. No need to complicate any thing. Just load it up with a few psi boost ie you don't have to mash the throttle. just keep it on a low boost setting until the rings have bedded in. I'm sure you have plenty of big hills close to home... but you are much better doing the bed in procedure on the rollers. It's a much more controlled situation, and a lot easier to see if anything is going south instead of North !
 
everyone has their own method. im in the camp of just drive the sucker. idea being that cilinder pressure will balloon the ring into the wals and bed them properly.

some builders say run it in exactly as you will drive it. other say take it easy. as said my opinion is just run it as you would drive it as those are the conditions the engine is likely to see. there's theroy saying that if you baby it you will abnormally bed the rings for soft driving and they may not react right to heavier driving. the thing you want to avoid is long periods of idle or low load

the absolute best way to run in an engine is on a dyno.
 
As an idea when i rebuilt my first engine did soft breakin compressikn test returned 150psi second engine hard breakin 200psi
 
Kyle, I like your idea but I think I'm going to go with a safe dyno run ;)

How many k's do they normally run for on the dyno?
 

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