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I just made it through the break in process per Golen (20 minutes at 2k RPM) and have began to look for leaks or other issues. There were a couple of drips of oil coming from the passenger side header near the collector clamp. I am fairly sure that the clamps need to be beefier as all of the exhaust appears to be leaking, but is it normal to have some blow by during break in?
I also noticed what appears to be some coolent from the head studs:
This is coming from the rear 2 studs on the driver side and the second to last stud on the passenger side.
It was running really rich as the Terminator X learns the tune, so could be fuel and carbon. It was a bit sticky like oil though and did not heavily smell of fuel. It was rich to the point where there was white smoke for the first 5-8 minutes as the computer corrected the fuel table.
Honestly I am more worried about the coolant on the back studs. When I assembled the short block, I use ARP thread sealer on the lower stud threads and ARP fastener lubricant on the top threads.
For break in, they wanted 20 minutes at 2k to seat the rings, then 500 miles of non-highway and varying RPM. They also said it was important to not lug or baby the engine.
Last edited by DrewHMS97SS; 12-20-2020 at 08:55 AM.
I am running 20/50 break in oil. I smeared this mess on to a rag and the collection was 99% powder. I had 1 sliver of metal about 1/8” long. Before I get too scared and pull it, I need to get the filter off, but realized this joy...
I had this on when the engine went on and didn’t even notice it. I was reading that with aluminum heads you need to re-torque after the first heat cycle, is this accurate? If so, I need to drop the headers anyway...
Last edited by DrewHMS97SS; 12-20-2020 at 11:59 AM.
I can't give you an absolute answer on the head bolts. I haven't done TTY bolts, if that is what your engine used.
I was not present after the initial run-in of the engine. I was supposed to be able to work along with the shop on the build, when I could find time away from work. Unfortunately, I dropped the car off at the end of 1999, and work was delayed because Callies was out of 1-piece RMS crankshafts, and is was going to take almost 3 months before their first production run. So work on the engine wasn't really aggressively pursued. Then in February, I got a work assignment for 6+ months in northern Italy, and I was only able to get back to the US for a few days, every 6 weeks. So I missed most of the details. The heads were assembled using ARP studs, but I wasn't present. I did see the engine on the dyno for break-in. And I know they said they were going to "retorque" things, but I don't know the details.
I would follow the procedure for the type of bolts or studs that were used in your engine.
There wasn't anything in the arp info about torquing after a heat cycle. The studs were not TTY, just 3 even passes to 80 pound feet. Thankfully these headers come on and off pretty easy. I have the oil filter off and broke into. The filter looks pretty clean, just a bit of dust. I saw a second small sliver though:
What do you think, fill it with normal oil and go for the short break in drives, or tear it down?
Do you think the tune has stabilized, not too rich? At most a short, not overly aggressive drive, followed by another oil change, filter inspection. Tough call though. Nothing I've run into before.
The richness of the tune is better. It pulled about 50% of what was originally set. It was running white smoke and a ton fuel fumes, this is going much better now.
The process for taking the tune, then gather learn data into a learn table, then transferring and smoothing the data into the base fuel table.
Would you run break-in oil again or switch to synthetic?
But I think the best thing to do at this point I talk to Golen. Review the results of the 20 minute break in, including the particulate on the drain plug, and the material in the filter. That can be affected by what was used to assemble the short block. Is it normal or excessive? If Golen used assembly lube, it is tenacious and stays put for a longer period of time. Simply using motor oil for assembly can result in the lubricant “draining” over a long period of time.
What does Golen recommend for the next step with regard to conventional vs. synthetic?
I have never used synthetic in my stroker build. The builders recommended specific Pennzoil products, based on the season. Conventional 25-50 racing oil for racing season/nitrous use, a conventional 10W-40 Turbo blend (no turbo on my engine) for off-season, no nitrous, cooler weather use. They said I could use synthetic if I preferred, but with the low mile use, frequent seasonal changing of oil, the extra cost of synthetic would not be taking advantage of the extended breakdown resistance of synthetic oils. I was able to convince them to stop using Fram oil filters for break-in, based on their documented inferior construction. I have a picture of my engine on the dyno, and it upsets me when I see the orange Fram filter.
I was able to speak to Golen today and everything appears to be normal. The bearing in my build are copper, so the couple of small filets are likely items just shaking loose, and the fuzz on the magnet is ring material from break in. The coolant leak is also pretty common for MLS head gaskets. They recommended the following:
1. Retorque the heads
2. Refill with break in oil and drive for 500 miles of varying speed and RPM
3. If the coolant leak is still present after a few more heat cycles, add AC Delco coolant tablets
Now I just need to figure our the oil filter situation with the headers. Pictured was a Wix.
The break-in is primarily for the rings. The cross-hatch on the cylinder bores is filing down the rings, and the rings are smoothing out the cross-hatch. Powder.... OK, anything larger than that would be a concern.
If the oil filter really tight near/against the headers? If so, either wrap the header pipe immediately next to the filter, or find a way to keep the heat away from the filter. I remember once when I was still running the original engine, with JBA shorty headers, the header-to-Y-pipe gasket (Percy's dead-soft aluminum) blew out, and the exhaust was exiting directly onto the oil filter. I had noticed that the oil pressure was lower than normal, and finally figured it out when I saw where the exhaust was heating up the filter.
The Wix oil filter was actually so close to the header that I could not have gotten it out without removing the filter. I will either need to locate a shorter filter or install a relocation kit. I am kind of leaning towards the relocation kit...
I have heard throughout my time reading on these cars that header wrap significantly reduces header life. Is there any risk to the headers by wrapping them? The driver side is really close to the pan and filter, the passenger side is really close to the starter.
12-19-2020, 03:36 PM
