The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Hope I Haven't Screwed It UP -- Engine I Mean

Okay. Finally got up enough nerve to start the SBC in my 56 just now. Fresh cam. Followed all the prelube requirements and stuff. Used CD2 as suggested here by cletis. Fired it up after minimal cranking. Lots of smoke as everything burns off the engine and headers. Kept rpms up, but as the temp guage got to 190, I shut it down. Prior to this was running 2500 rpm for five minutes or so. Keep popping breakers on my fan circuit. Has a 30 amp mini-breaker, which I think I'm going to remove and just go with the fusible link that is already there. There are no shorts, but I believe the initial startup is frying the mini-fuse. Anyway, I have several fuel leaks which I'm fixing and my oil pressure guage is leaking where the line connects to the engine block by the distributer. Before I fix the things I've mentioned here, thought I'd let everything cool down. I know I'm supposed to keep the rpms above 2000 for 20 minutes. Have I messed up my engine, you think? Or should I quit worrying, fix the leaks, and resume the cam breakin?

I don't believe you have done any damage. You had good oil preasure and your temp never got to high. I have run in several engines a few of them short than I would have liked and not had any problems. If you did your homework and assembled everything cleanly then you should be fine.

I'd say fix the leaks and go ahead with the run in. I have built lots of engines and never had a cam or bearing problem on break in, you should be fine.

make sure your coolent level is ok once the air is worked out dont over heat it

I think you should be just fine. Did you use a relay in your fan circuit? If not you will need to add one if you run more than one fan you should use a relay for each fan.

I run mine 190 all the time(190 thermostat)
17lb,cap prevents boilover when it gets to 215.
the elect. fans kick in about 200 but sometimes it gets a little hotter. No effects after 3 years. I noticed my wifes car was running 245 and got nervious till I read the owners manual. Northstar engine is designed to run that way.
Did you notice Jeff Gordon this weekend? I know that is a special engine but he ran a bunch of laps at 265 and won the race

Actually im my opinion shuttin it down at 190 was a good thing, do it 2 or 3 more times I was taught to heat up a new engine an let her cool down totally , that helps seat the rings an other internal parts better than just runnin the heck outta it ...My Pappy said ...an i quote ..Run her in bye gettin her to temp ...shut her down ,,,let her set ...till cool ,,repeat several times ...an then Gouge on the ***** !...she will be fine .my Dads word for standin on it wide open !....

I put a new engine in once & the fella that owned it drove it away on a trip as soon as I got the coolant/oil checked for the second time, I never test drove it or anything. He broke it in driving it down the road. The engine had run maybe 5-7 minutes total. I saw the truck coupla months later for servicing, everything was fine. Brian