Break-in Recommendations?

[John N. Packard]

I'm doing rings, valves, and rod bearings on my '54 Packard. One article I read advised not to use detergent oil during the break-in period stating that the rings would not wear in properly. What are your thoughts?

jnp

[ted sweet]

Its dont use synthetic.

[Guest sixpack2639]

Use any brand name you want, be it Castrol or Advance Auto Parts brand Etc., doesn't matter. Use 10W30 weight oil. NO SYNTHETICS! DO NOT use any additives such as STP or Lucas as they defeat the ability of the rings to seat. I always run the first 500 miles easy, ie. BABY IT, and don't stay at any particular RPM for any length of time. Don't take it out on the highway and run it for 500 miles at 55 miles an hour, make sure your speeds vary. The next 500 miles R-U-N it like the law is on your butt!!! Just kidding. LOL Run it like you normally drive. At 1000 miles the rings should be well seated and you can switch to Synthetic if you wish but stay with 10W30 weight and use a quality oil. NOTE: If you used Chrome Moly rings it may take longer for the rings to seat. Hope that helps. Carl

[critterpainter]

Break-in proceedure also depends on what the piston ring is made of. If you overlube some types of rings during assembly they will never seat. I just don't recall what type of ring this is (chrome or moly).

I learned this one many years ago the hard way, and had to re-ring an engine with only 500 miles on it and NOT lube the rings duriing assembly.

bill

[Guest De Soto Frank]

With respect as to whether to lube or not lube the rings, it would be wise to follow the RING MFR's advice: are you using new modern rings or old stock made by a long-gone maker ? (If the rings and pistons were not lubed, I 'd worry about the cylinder walls and piston skirts getting scored...)

My last last rebuild/ break-in was a 1960 Chrysler RB 383 V-8, in April.

Following recommendations in "How To Rebuild Big-Block MoPars", all rod and main bearings were coated with white lithium grease, plus a few squirts of 10W-30 oil; the new cam was doped with the lube that came with it (Edelbrock) - thoroughly coating all lobes and bearings, as well as the lifter faces; cylinder bores were swabbed with a "handful" of clean 10W-30, pistons & rings were dunked headfirst into a coffee can of clean 10W-30, then allowed to drain before installing into the bores.

All crank and timing cover seals were oiled and centered before things were tightened-down.

Valve stems & guides were liberally oiled at installation, and again before installing the valve covers.

Once the engine was back in the car, before installing the distributor, I primed the oiling system with an oil-pump drive shaft & a drill (don't know if this is possible on the Packard); took less than 10 seconds to get-up oil pressure. Otherwise, leave your spark-plugs out, and spin the engine over on the starter until the oil pressure gauge shows pressure. Then re-install your plugs and preceed with initial start-up.

The MoPar book advised when starting the engine for the first time, to have a tachometer connected, and once oil pressure evrything else checked-out, to step the idle up to 2,000 rpms and let it run for 1/2 hour. They strongly cautioned against letting it idle at factory setting, as that would starve the cam and other critical areas of adequate oil.

That speed might be kind of high for a long-stroke straight-eight, but perhaps a speed between 1,000 & 1,800 RPM might be suitable for that first 1/2 hour of driveway running. The general idea is to keep the oil pressure & volume at a good level during the inital start-up; this will help prevent scuffing or scoring.

Don't walk away from it during this first 1/2 hour either: keep an eye on oil pressure, water temp, etc watching for sudden changes. If something seems a-miss, shut it down and investigate!

Once it's passed the 1/2 hour mark, if pressures and temps look good, you can drop the idle down and get ready for the road, following the "first five hundred miles" advice in the posts above.

A new tight engine will run a bit hotter than you might be used to, but should not overheat. Also, as the engine "runs-in", you'll probably find that the actual idle speed will "Creep-up" as the parts loosen-up a bit.

Another thought to what type of piston ring you're using: usually, a responsible machine shop will ask what kind of ring (cast-iron, moly, chrome) you're planning to use, as that determines what kind of honing pattern to leave in the bores: this has as much effect on ring break-in as anything else. Also, I have heard that the traditional cast-iron rings could be difficult to seat; peharps that's a shade-tree legend...

The above process worked-out well for my V-8 Chrysler - it's gone a little over 2,000 miles on the fresh engine, and hasn't burned or leaked any oil, no knocks or rattles; I had to pull a couple spark plugs to access exhaust bolts, and the plugs had a beautiful light tan coating - the way the charts say a "normal" plug is supposed to look!

Oh, one more thing: ring end-gap: some mfr's originally spec'd too tight an end gap (Chrysler on the flathead sixes, for one), which can result in broken rings.

Again, the ring mfr's advice should be considered: my rings were from Hastings, and they recommended an end-gap of: .004" per each inch of cylinder bore...

So, an engine with a bore of four inches should have a minimum ring end-gap of .016"...

My '35-'42 MoToR's manual lists end-gap spec of .007" - .015" for Packard; I would err towards the .015"...

By the 1960's ring end gaps of .020"-.025" were common.

Good luck - hope it turns-out well !

[John N. Packard]

Frank, Bill, Carl & Ted,

Thanks for your helpful advice. Due to health reasons it will probably take me a month or more to finish the overhaul.

jnp

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Slow 'n' Steady John...

Six years passed between the time I yanked that RB-383 and finally got it back in the car !

Good luck!