It's alive

[Jeff N.]

The new engine is in and running. Except for Martin's little oopsy with the pressure plate trying to hack off his thumb, it was a mostly uneventful installation. Helps when you've done it before. Parts were clean and I managed to get everything (and a few key spares) correctly ordered. I think we referenced the manual once the whole time - and that was just to confirm the head torqueing sequence.

Was smarter this time in that we completely dressed the motor out of the car. Hung everything we could on it down to the water hoses and all the intake and fuel plumbing. Really saved time and your back. Last time, much of that was installed after the motor was stuffed in the car.

Car has all of 50 miles on the motor so I'm going thru some very careful break in at the moment. Had to sort out a few little teething problems like a fubared rebuild on the P/S pump (oops...stuck in the spare one from the wreck this AM - no P/S sucks), a couple of loose bolts including a headpipe flange and going back one more time and getting the silly cam advance correct (Martin - neeeeew car - once it's dialed it should be really good!)

Driving report after it gets some miles under the belt. But...for now, it's good.

[bahnstormer]

so ure going with the delicate break in or the
high stress one?

[Bill R.]

possible first while its on the stand eh? Just curious, how could you fubar a power steering pump rebuild?

The new engine is in and running. Except for Martin's little oopsy with the pressure plate trying to hack off his thumb, it was a mostly uneventful installation. Helps when you've done it before. Parts were clean and I managed to get everything (and a few key spares) correctly ordered. I think we referenced the manual once the whole time - and that was just to confirm the head torqueing sequence.

Was smarter this time in that we completely dressed the motor out of the car. Hung everything we could on it down to the water hoses and all the intake and fuel plumbing. Really saved time and your back. Last time, much of that was installed after the motor was stuffed in the car.

Car has all of 50 miles on the motor so I'm going thru some very careful break in at the moment. Had to sort out a few little teething problems like a fubared rebuild on the P/S pump (oops...stuck in the spare one from the wreck this AM - no P/S sucks), a couple of loose bolts including a headpipe flange and going back one more time and getting the silly cam advance correct (Martin - neeeeew car - once it's dialed it should be really good!)

Driving report after it gets some miles under the belt. But...for now, it's good.

[Martin in Bellevue]

I wasn't too rummy, I thought. It seemed to go together well, all the seals went to their obvious mounts. I rebuilt the pump on my 535 a couple years ago with no problems. The damned thing cleaned up really nicely too.
It just didn't provide any assist to the steering.

possible first while its on the stand eh? Just curious, how could you fubar a power steering pump rebuild?

[Jeff N.]

yes...it's a mystery. We're not sure what went wrong. Been handy to have spares around from the wreck - I just tossed it in. Ewww...I just hate PS and brake fluid.

Of course, no worries as Martin was immensely generous throughout. No way this happens without him. Fubar PS is a nit.

Bill - how far would you go before the first oil change. Cars running 10-40 dino at the moment. People have suggested about 250 to 500 miles for the first interval. Run dino for around 5k or so then switch over to synth. Thoughts?

[632 Regal]

work it to run nitro methane?

[Bill R.]

250 or so miles too.. First change is mainly to get rid of any abrasives or other debris, metal particles etc..
As far as switching to synthetic, do you know if it was plateau honed or not when he did the cylinders, if not then i would go at least 10k before switching to synthetic just to make sure that the rings seat correctly
What rings did you end up using? Thats also a factor in how quickly they will seat. If he used diamond hones when boring then hopefully he,she used a brush hone afterwards to give it a plateau finish.. and a block plate. This way the bore is pretty close to what it would be after break in and it will shorten the time required for the rings to seat and seal properly.. If thats the case then you can switch to synthetic fairly early 5k as you said is a safe margin.

yes...it's a mystery. We're not sure what went wrong. Been handy to have spares around from the wreck - I just tossed it in. Ewww...I just hate PS and brake fluid.

Of course, no worries as Martin was immensely generous throughout. No way this happens without him. Fubar PS is a nit.

Bill - how far would you go before the first oil change. Cars running 10-40 dino at the moment. People have suggested about 250 to 500 miles for the first interval. Run dino for around 5k or so then switch over to synth. Thoughts?

[632 Regal]

Even with a fine hone of 600 grit takes a while to get the rings to seat. I went with a "medium" grit bore on one of my ex wives engines and switched to synthetic...never broke in... used chrome molly rings too which were supposed to be soft but could not take the synthetic as a break in.

On the racecar I used steel rings and a smooth 600 grit and was broke in in less than 4 1/4 mile runs, you could actually feel it heal up. That was with running syn as a break in lube too.

[Jeff N.]

Plateau honed; Rowe said don't use a 400 stone - too fine. Moly ring top ring, iron two ring with a low tension oil ring. Bore gaps are about 25 to 27 thou depending on the hole (1 and 6 are larger, centers smaller).

About 100 miles as of this evening. No more than about 4800k RPM so far. Pretty much done with the RPM varying and moving to regular street driving but staying away from extended idle, extended constrant speeds, etc.

Quick impressions so far are:

- car idles dead smooth
- much better off cam than before but still not a torque monster
- when it does come on cam, it's pretty bold.
- 3rd gear seems really strong for some reason...a lot of pull at 65 to 70.

...but...still being gentle more or less. Stock chip with the MAF set conservative towards the lean settings to ensure no fuel wash whatsoever.

It will be interesting as it runs in to see what the final verdict of the cam is. I still may consider switching to cam that comes on about 3000k RPM vs. the 3700 or so this one seems to hit at. I'll have to chalk that up to live and learn experience. Of course...it may all sort out once it runs in, I get the A/F correct and settle on the best chip.

So far...so good.

250 or so miles too.. First change is mainly to get rid of any abrasives or other debris, metal particles etc..
As far as switching to synthetic, do you know if it was plateau honed or not when he did the cylinders, if not then i would go at least 10k before switching to synthetic just to make sure that the rings seat correctly
What rings did you end up using? Thats also a factor in how quickly they will seat. If he used diamond hones when boring then hopefully he,she used a brush hone afterwards to give it a plateau finish.. and a block plate. This way the bore is pretty close to what it would be after break in and it will shorten the time required for the rings to seat and seal properly.. If thats the case then you can switch to synthetic fairly early 5k as you said is a safe margin.