Monday morning with some good weather and a little luck, we will be brining the 85Z back to life for It's first run in 6 months.

I wanted to know a proper procedure for ensuring the oil system in properly primed and how to break in the new engine properly.

I was reading a thread over at an LS1 forum that suggested a fast way to prime the oil system without taking anything apart was to remove the injector and fuel pump fuses (but if I read the fuse block diagram right the fuel pump on my car also runs off injector #2 circuit, so I only need to worry about the two injector fuses), and crank the engine for approx 10 - 15 seconds.

As far as proper break in procedures, I've gathered alot of information on the topic, but am still a bit fuzzy and want to make sure I do it the right way. From what I've gathered, the grandpa the car method outlined in GM owners manuals is the complete opposite way to do it.

I'm under the impression that to properly break in an engine, you need plenty of hard acceleration coupled with hard deceleration and engine braking. I plan to cap my RPM range at no greater than 4k but mostly keep it in the 3500 range. So, let the questions begin:

- For the first start, how do I go about idling the car properly until the oil pressure drops and the temp rises? Do I let it hold It's own idle, or give it moderate throttle of about 1500RPM?

- For the first drive, I plan on taking it out on an old country road which I believe would be perfect for breaking it in. No cops for miles. I've gotten it up to 90 on that road before without coming into contact with anything more than a mailtruck. This is a fiesty road with plenty of open straightaways which would temp me to open up the throttle, then PLENTY or bends, curves and hills which would force me to slow it down before hitting another straightaway. This stretch of road goes on for about 20 minutes. For the first drive is there a certain amount of time you should drive and then let the car rest and cool down?

- How many miles before first oil change?

- How many miles before I can switch to synthetic?

- How many miles before break-in is complete and the real carnage can begin?




Thanks in advance guys.

 

You don't have to prime a small block chevy. If you really wanted to you would do it with a priming tool that goes in the distributor but its not necessary.

Start cranking the motor while someone is messing with the distributor trying to start it. STOP cranking after 10 seconds if oil pressure does not rise. You should see the oil pressure rise up after a few seconds. Now let it idle and set your timing. Look for leaks and make sure any wires aren't burning up. I let my motors run for about 25 minutes and then I change the oil and filter. This gets rid of all the dirt, lint, junk from assembly and any metal shavings. Your next oil change should be at 2500mi. After that go drive it at varying rpm's but don't go beating on it until its had about 250 miles on it. You can switch to synthetic after about 1500 miles when the rings have fully seated. Thats my school of though everyones got there own way.

 

I highly recommend either getting or making your own priming tool, dry starts are the #1 death of motors. Its basically just a rod that spins your pump shaft, I hook mine into a cordless power drill. I Usually run my car 30min, slightly above idle then I let it hold its own idle for another 15min, then first oil change. I run it for 500 miles afterward, these are easy miles, then another change. From 500 miles on its anything goes!