New rings.... How easy do u drive?? Help.

hey everyone.. well gonna be leaving in an hour.. i got a set of rings yesterday and after i drove about 200 miles of constant 3000 rpm over a mountain pass.. i basically was told keep it below 4k and not to go as fast as possible to 4k.. just drive like your trying to get good gas milage. well just thought u gotta be easy so how bad is driving it on the freeway doing 70-80, 3k-3500k.. will this have any effect on the rings setting properly? well any help would be great. car is an 83 sc has je pistons higher comp pistons, 73 s cams ect.. thanks

Hi,

Always heard to vary the rpm, keep it under 4k and ... drive it like you stole it!

I've done the top end on mine and driving it like I stole it!

Marc-Andre Morin
Quebec, Canada
70 914-6 conversion 2.2

Drive it like i stole it eh... well wanna make this last a lil while. i dont think your suppose to drive it as hard as ya want and just keep below 4k.. but hmm anyone else say that?

New rings like heat! Go find some hills and put it uder a load, work the rpms up and down. If you baby it around the rings will never seat and you will puling it apart to hone and re ring the engine.
Don't run the hell out of it , just run the rpms up and down. After the first 500 miles, run it hard!
DRD
Daren

Wow wouldnt have known.. Maybe this is why the engine 16k ago had the rings fail? well had the engine replaced and that was 16k ago.. 3 top rings had gone bad.. i saw them and it seems to be that 1 was differ then the other.. they had shrank almost. it was like the gap in them when put side by side was the it had shrunk.. maybe it is cuz i drove it very easy for the first 2500 miles.. i had it moving in the rpm range alot but never drove past4k.. hmm think maybe this is a maybe problem? well mech who built it says drive easy till 1k come back and then another1k then go have fun.. maybe i should be driving it harder after 500??? well just hard to say when 2 peeps are saying diff.. but hey i guess a you both must be somewhat right.. thanks

yes, agree with DRD. Drive it in varied rpms under 4 - 5K to seat the rings on air cooled engines. remember, air cooled cylinder expand more than water pumpers. have heard those whom baby their Porsches since new have had problems with high oil consumption and when the cylinders are disassembled, the walls are glazed. Drive Porsches engine hard, they are designed for it.

When I did my 73.5 (2.7 CIS) I was told to NEVER go above 4K until the first 1000 miles, and to keep the RPMS varied. I just babied it around town. Then WOW what fun that car was. It lasted two years until I (had to) sold it.

I don't know that was 12 plus years ago.


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Nick Hromyak
'85 Carrera 7 & 9 Fuchs
Havin' Fun in Sacramento

FWIW,
The following is part of the Formula Atlantic Motor kit instructions, from TRD:

To ensure long life and reliability you must properly break in your freshly assembled engine.

For a high performance street motor fill the engine with a good grade 20W-50 Mineral based oil. Fill the oil filter with oil before installing it. Remove the spark plugs and crank the engine until the oil pressure comes up on the gauge.

Re-install the spark plugs. Now you are ready to start her up. Start the engine and bring it immediately to 2,000 rpm. Vary the engine speed between 2,000 – 3,000 rpm for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes stop the engine, check the valve lash and re-torque the head bolts. Drain the oil and change the filter. Re-fill the engine with 20W-50 Mineral based oil.

Drive the car slowly for about 500 miles keeping the rpm under 4,000. Don’t lug the engine either because that’s worse for the motor than over revving it. After 500 miles change the oil and filter again. You can now use a synthetic oil if you want to. Use a 20W-50 oil and change it every 3,000 miles. Your engine is now broken in.

For a race engine broken in on the dyno the procedure is a little different. Note that this procedure is for a race clearanced engine.

For the initial run use a Mineral based 20W-50 oil. Run a hotter spark plug than you normally would run. Prime the oil system and the fuel system. Start t6he engine and bring it up to 2,000 – 3,000 rpm with no load. Watch the oil pressure and check for leaks. After 30 minutes stop the motor, check the timing, re-torque the head and check valve lash. Then, run the engine with a light load between 2,000 – 3,000 rpm for another 30 minutes. After 30 minutes change the spark plugs to the normal heat range you are going to run. Do a full throttle full load pull up to the bottom of the power band. Quickly chop the motor.

Check the spark plugs and the BSFC numbers if your dyno is equipped to do so to confirm the jetting. If everything looks good do a full throttle full load pull.

The engine is now ready to race.