So ive heard a few different things. Ive heard people say to take it easy for awhile on it, then ive heard people that agree with this:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

which says to run it hard right away. I do not wanna **** up my new motor. Anyone tried the second way, it seems to make logical sense.

 

I heard you want to hold it around 1500 rpm for 10 minutes, then after that do what you please

 

i run easy then would slowing start letting see more boost for the first 500

 

I would drive it easy for the first 500/1k miles then after that you should be fine

 

drive it as you intend on driving it, gm runs it on a type of dyno from the factory, they hold it at 80 miles an hour for a few minutes....just drive the car it will be okay

 

What kind of rings do you have? I read thru your mod list and got lost... sorry if it says.

 

it all depends on sleeves/rings

 

Darton sleeves, diamond pistons, carrillo rods, its not in my mods list.

 

ok, i'll give my two lsj experiences.

1st was a diamond install with total seal rings on a stock block with 12k mi which i plateau brushed to remove any glazing. and at the time i was running Mobil 1 only and the motor was spotless, clean as a whistle.

so i broke that one in on conventional auto-zone 5w-30 oil and i broke it in hard... boosted it from the first second it reached operating temp. i boosted it 5psi threw all the gears then 10psi then 15psi...

i did change the oil after that which was 50mi

then i beat on it racing people and stuff that you do when you first turbo charge a car lol and changed the oil every 1500-2000mi (as soon as it was dark brown and not clean anymore, i dont listen to dic)

then the day came along were i pushed that block to its limit and cracked a sleeve. when i took the motor apart it was nasty looking as far as tarnish and burnt oil above an below the rings. (motor ran greeat until it blew)


long story short no abnormal wear just kinda dirty/dingy/tarnish looking parts.




Then i said ok time to sleeve it, so i re-used my diamond pistons and had Ray Bates sleeve the block. he recommended that i break it in easy for the first 500mi and on "what ever im gonna run" which was synthetic Mobil 1. and i asked him, Ray I thought you weren't supposed to break in on syn? he said "he has been doing it for yrs and the only difference is the synthetic motors are always way cleaner" well this guy knows way more than me about ecotec's so i took his advice.

i broke it in easy staying out of boost completely for 300mi then slowly slowly rolled in some boost here and there. changed the oil at 50mi, 500mi and every 1500mi after.

recently it has become time to pull the head for a valve job and some new exh guides. I thought what a great time to take a peek in the motor!

stripped the head off and immediately i was amazed at how clean everything had stayed, and the cyl walls looked 100% normal no glazing/hazing or irregular ring patterns.... Ray was right!


sooo sorry for the long story but i felt it was worth sharing. motors with cams that require break in oil still must use a good quality oil containing zinc and be ran at 2000 for 20min.





Before conventional...

















pics of motor after broke in on conventional...

















now back to a fresh start... (sleeved)
















Now this time broke in on Mobil 1 synthetic...













as you can see the motor broke in on synthetic is way way way cleaner!

 

Thats exactly what i wanted to see/hear, thanks a lot, that answered everything.

 

my theory is that the conventional oil didn't hold up well to the extreme heat my engine produces. (oil in turbo is trying to cool down center section)

and i think it broke the oil down much much sooner.

but synthetic was made to withstand the heat and hp of a turbocharged engine, not breaking down nearly as fast. and then the syn has lots of detergents added. i imagine that's why it stays so clean.