In case anyone has not heard, I am paying Dino to rebuild the bottom end of my engine with the Howell kit. Then we are going to swap the head to the new engine and put a turbo kit on. All this will be done in Houston. I live in Austin, about 3 hours away. I was wondering, after I get the engine done I will have to drive home. I thought that highway driving was not the best way to break in an engine. I thought that stopping and starting was the best way to do it. Varying the rpm's and all. Can someone clarify the best way to break in an engine? Thanks.

Just vary the load, since you will have todrive it on the freeway home. Accelerate and decellerate a lot, slow down, speed up, etc.. Don't keep a constant speed for any great length of time.

Yep, just vary your speeds and don't drive it harder then half throttle generally. In one of the cars i used to own the breakin instructions said to vary the speed and not keep it at a constant speed for more then a few minutes or something. and also from time to time do full throttle accerlation in 3rd gear. just not in first gear.

>and also from time to time do full throttle
>accerlation in 3rd gear. just not in first gear.

Varying speeds is good. But I don't think full throttle in third gear would be a good idea? I would stay away from full throttle acceleration completely, since no matter what gear you are in, it is still putting a load on the engine (just like if you dyno, most cars give out pretty consistent results whether you use third or fourth gear). I think to the engine, isn't it the same amount of work?

No full throttle. I don't care what gear..

Thee is a difference between an off-the-showroom-floor car and a fresh motor. There is always a breakin done at the factory - you build it, you break it in. You do it wrong? You just threw a lot of money away. Do it right, do it safe, do it slow. Why risk it?

I agree with the other guys--no full throttle and drive in varying speeds. My "Hastings" piston ring instruction says to take your car from 30 mph to 60 mph 10 times at around 50% throttle. Also, warm up is very important. You shouldn't drive the car or rev it up too much until the engine reaches operating tempterature. Do this, at least, for the first few hundred miles. Like Dino said, take every precaution because if it breaks again, you'll waste time and money that you could be spending on something shiny or with cool lights (I can't help it, I like shiny and cool gadgets in my car).

Also, I was told by an engine builder with 30 years experience, locally, and he said to run the car with 10w40 or even thicker, and change the oil at 100 miles. Then change the oil again at 500 miles. Then another oil change at 1000 miles; after that, change the oil as you would normally--at 2500-3000 miles.

? for Dino, since the subject of you doing turbos came up, I live about 3 hours from houston, how much is your fee for stage 2 installation if I may ask, considering if I ever get my engine problems fixed,

How long would you guys say before the engine would be ready for high revs after haveing it rebuilt?

After a proper break-in period, some guys gun it after about 1k miles. If you could "hold" it, you should wait until after about 2-3k miles.

after a proper break in how do you mean, because I just got my bottom end rebuilt and I've been taken it to about 3k rpms in every gear and peak it at 3500 rpms every now and then and my highest mph is 70 but thats not constant now is it all right to drive it at that high of a mph for a while or not?

I was saying to do the full throttle right away.. I was refering to after the first 500-1000 miles breakin. like after the same period as a factory break-in before you buy it.