I read this article and will read it again several times. MOTOR TREND ARTICLE Any other tips? I’ll have the engine on a run stand so I’ll have easy access to all vital components.
Make sure you have all the air out of the cooling system and a fan mounted to aid in air flow across the radiator. It's a good idea to also have another oil filter, once the engine is fired all the excess assembly lube migrate to the filter. Of course a timing light and a infrared thermometer on hand. The thermometer can be used to insure that all cylinders are firing evenly and the temperature is balanced across the heads.
Of course we expect a video from you.
PS: Where did you get that stand, I love it...
Last edited by TUTS 59; 10/30/20212:17 PM.
~ Craig 1958 Viking 4400 "The Book of Thor" Read the story in the DITY 1960 Chevrolet C10 "A Family Heirloom" Follow the story in the DITY Gallery '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
If you don't like driving yourTruck, you won't drive yourTruck..| Living life in the SLOW lane
I always have a garden hose handy to aid in cooling the radiator, once the engine starts and the rpm up, it's best not to shut it down till the break-in time has pasted, the hose will keep the temp down if its starts creeping up.
Don't fiddle with it till it's broke in, make adjustments on the fly only as needed to keep it running, there will little to no load on the engine, so timing and carburetor adjustments don't need to be spot on.
Its rpm that throws oil off the crank on to the camshaft, so keep it up over 1800.
I plan to prime the rebuilt carburetor with an electric fuel pump so there will be fuel in the bowl. Would it be a good idea to just use an electric fuel pump the whole time it’s on the run stand? That would be easy enough to set up. Also, when priming the engine passages with oil, what’s the best way to avoid an oily mess since I’ll have the rocker covers off to confirm oil flow through the pushrods etc?
Use a variable speed drill motor, you can control the flow a lot better. It may be to late but I have clips that attach to the rocker arms that deflect the oil, you may be able to find them at your FLAPS.
~ Craig 1958 Viking 4400 "The Book of Thor" Read the story in the DITY 1960 Chevrolet C10 "A Family Heirloom" Follow the story in the DITY Gallery '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
If you don't like driving yourTruck, you won't drive yourTruck..| Living life in the SLOW lane
Back before I knew any better, I had a set of scrap valve covers with a slot cut in the tops above the rocker arm nuts for "running valve adjustment" (AKA WRONG). I really doubt that there will be enough volume from the rocker weep holes to be concerned with but if you want to add an extra layer of protection, glue a valve cover gasket to the head to create an overflow dam. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Would anyone care to comment on what high zinc break in oil they recommend? I have some instructions from the machine shop that recommends Gibbs break in oil or using ZPPD break in additive. Lucas sells a straight 30 W break in oil.
Lugnutz, not sure it makes a lot of difference between name brands. Based on machine shop recommendations, I started using Brad Penn break-in oil years ago, now marketed as Penngrade1.
Brad Penn was formed when the former Kendall refinery in Bradford, PA was sold about the time that Phillips 66 purchased the Kendall brand. Their marketing tag line was (and still is) the "original green oil" harkening back the former Kendall GT-1 oils from that refinery. I had good luck with the old Kendall products, back to the '60s (Kendall-branded products manufactured by Phillips may be fine, but they are not the same), and perhaps out of a bit of nostalgia have stayed with the Brad Penn / Pengrade1 "green oil" as my regular service oil, as well.
Anyway, I've had good luck with the 30 wt. Brad Penn / Penngrade 1 break-in oil, which is high in zinc and phosphorus.
lugnutz From what I read you need to mix your additive into the oil before starting. However I didn't the last time but it was not a new cam, runs fine.
I haven't used the Lucas break in oil, they have a formula developed for older engines with higher zinc content. It seems to be a good grade for what you would need.
Last edited by TUTS 59; 10/30/20215:41 PM.
~ Craig 1958 Viking 4400 "The Book of Thor" Read the story in the DITY 1960 Chevrolet C10 "A Family Heirloom" Follow the story in the DITY Gallery '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
If you don't like driving yourTruck, you won't drive yourTruck..| Living life in the SLOW lane
I soaked my lifters in oil. Coated the bottoms with assembly lube and installed them. With the intake off, I set my pushrods at zero lash plus 1/2 turn while the lifter was on the cam base circle. Tell me if you think I missed something important.
This guy has a very interesting method which I might have followed if I had not already soaked my lifters in oil. He installs the lifters WITHOUT SOAKING them in oil first. He then tightens each rocker until he has zero lash, rotates the crank 90*, tightens loose pushrods to zero lash, rotates another 90*, keeps checking rod lash until he has all pushrods at zero lash no matter where the crank or cam is. He then gives each rocker a 3/4 turn preload. Then he adds oil to the engine and primes the oil passages and lifters. Done.
Soaking lifters in oil is a messy waste of time, unless you can figure out a way to apply oil pressure to the little hole in the side of the lifter at the same time, and work the center plunger up and down. While the video guy's method will work OK, it's also unnecessarily complicated. I won't waste more time explaining a companion cylinder adjustment- - - -since I haven't known of anyone using it even once in the 20-something years I've been touting it. It works on solid and hydraulic lifters equally well, but since nobody's interested, why bother? Two turns of the engine and a one-time adjustment of each valve must not be exciting enough for people who believe valve adjustment has to involve some sort of voodoo spell cast by Marie LeVeaux. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
You taught me the “companion” method when I was adjusting valves on my inline 6. However, I resorted to watching each individual lifter move to be sure it’s on the base circle and confirmed by the fact that both intake and exhaust valves won’t be fully open at the same time. I’m more afraid of getting mixed up on what cylinders are companions and then having to figure out what I did wrong later, after I’ve broken something expensive.
Can you follow a firing order? All Chevy V8's are the same, big and small blocks- - - -1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.
Companion cylinders: 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
It doesn't matter how you get there, as long as the adjustment is right and you can minimize the amount of rotations it takes to get the job done.
As to you oil question, Driven brand, PennGrade, Comp Cams, all make good quality break-in oil, I only use oil labeled as break-in for the engines I build, I don't like the mix in stuff when it's customers money I am dealing with. I am rebuilding a 400 Pontiac now that went 200 miles before taking three lobes off a cam, I broke it in on a stand with Penn Grade 30w oil and Crower Camsaver lifters. I didn't see or hear any issues with it once in the car, it ran and sounded great. It scored two cylinder walls enough we had to change blocks, nothing that $1200 didn't fix! I am using Driven oil this time just for a change. I also started using a couple of 80 lb pull magnets on the oil filters just because, cheap insurance I guess.
Electric fuel pump or manual pump will work, it's whatever is easiest to hook up and keep the engine running, I have done it both ways. I build four or five engines a year for Pontiac customers and they all get ran before sending them out.
On the round track engines we built, cam break-in was done on the dyno with stock valve springs, then the heads were pulled and the triple springs were installed. That would be overkill on a street engine. I wonder how much attention was given to cam break-in at the factory? Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
