Hi Guys,

An exhaust port issue, combined with mystery oil consumption, and a previous owner's history of funky business, inspired me to refresh my McMark-built (2007) motor with new pistons and cylinders (bought from McMark) and refurbished heads (by Chris @ Tangerine). I left the cam and the case alone, though I did replace the front main seal and the oil pump cover and oil cooler seals. The rear seal was fine and the clutch works great, so I left well enough alone there. FYI...I'm sure this wouldn't have been necessary without the PO"s aforementioned funky biz.

The deck height, valve clearance and CR look good, and I've watched a very young and thin Jake Raby on DVD putting the top end back together a dozen times. The engine appears to be ready. My question is...what's the best procedure for this restart? I assume since the cam and lifters are the same, the break-in isn't as critical...though the new rings will need to seat. My thoughts were...

1) Fill the oil and turn the engine over by hand to get things primed
2) Take the engine off the stand, rest it on a dolly, and mate it with the transmission / starter.
3) With the plugs out and no fuel hooked up to the carbs, use the starter to turn the engine over, doing a compression / leak down test while on the dolly to insure all is well before putting the motor in the car.
4) Assuming the numbers look good, install in the car.
5) Drive it, keeping the RPMs above 2K where possible for an hour or so.

Is this a good plan? Have I left anything out? I was thinking I might fire up the engine on the dolly (stabilized by some 6 X 6s bolted to the mount bar)...but between rigging up the electrics and fuel, I think it'll probably take about the same time to just place the engine in the car for first firing (and only connect the CVs and other bits when it seems it's running well).

Thanks for your help and advice, as always!

Ian

Your compression/leak down results will be meaningless on a completely-fresh ring/cylinder set. I would install the motor, crank with the ignition and fuel disabled until you get oil pressure, then fire it up. Make sure it idles decently and warm it up, then drive it.

Vary the loads for the first ~100 miles or so, avoiding WOT and redline at first but making sure to do some coasting down from decently-high RPMs in gear with the throttle closed. That will pull as much vacuum as the engine can, and is supposed to be good for getting the rings and cylinder walls friendly with each other.

There are also those who say "just drive it like you stole it", or "drive it the way you will be driving it in the future". It may be that there is no one correct way to break in the engine.

--DD

I don't have experience with the Type-4's just yet, but on all of the other engine builds I've done I've followed the same advice Dave Darling wrote.

Thanks Guys. Very helpful. Any other gems of wisdom always welcome....

Paint it Ravenna Green.