The BEST Break for a new car. "very long"

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by irvinecamaro

Darin,
Just a stupid follow up question. There's no place around my home where I could break-in my car other than the freeway. I was just trying to think of how I would do it and I realized once I accelerate my LS3 to the desired speed and then shift in to neutral to slow down to say 50 MPH then unless I take an exit i will have to shift in to gear to speed up again which could cause some engine breaking. Any ideas on how to avoid this? Thanks.

You must find some place to do it. I cant help you with that. Sorry.

[chappy48]

Originally Posted by irvinecamaro

Darin,
Just a stupid follow up question. There's no place around my home where I could break-in my car other than the freeway. I was just trying to think of how I would do it and I realized once I accelerate my LS3 to the desired speed and then shift in to neutral to slow down to say 50 MPH then unless I take an exit i will have to shift in to gear to speed up again which could cause some engine breaking. Any ideas on how to avoid this? Thanks.

If you can't find a lonely road to do it and can only do it on the freeway, I would shift it into 6th, that's your best bet.

[Bobby]

on a manuel tranny what RPM are you taking the motor to at shift points?

[Bobby]

Originally Posted by Darin Morgan

“DISCLAIMER” Do not use the break in procedure below. Do not do hard acceleration runs and load your engine hard. You don't need this much power. I am not responsible for any damage, breakage or massive power increase caused by this crazy break in procedure. Just because every professional engine builder uses this procedure is no reason you should.


IMHO
The manual is written by people following “Corporate procedure” in order to mitigate the company’s exposure both legally and financially. If you don’t do what is outlined in there little manual they have ammo in court and for warranty if they so choose. It has almost nothing to do with how to properly break in an engine.
Some guy takes a new car out and turns the traction control off. He lays the coals to it like he has in his little import and WAMMO, he raps it around a telephone pole. Now what do you think the legal implications would be if the manual said to do 20 -30 hard acceleration runs and something like this happened. The manual has far less to do with break in and much more to do with legal exposure.

For over 25 years I, my family and every single person I am friends with, hang around with and work with build, test, tune, design and race for a living or sport. My brother and I have built some of the fastest engines in the world for just about every form of motor sports you care to name. Engines costing well over 100k-150k. I don’t say this to toot my horn but to give some measure of my background and experience. I do so because the statements I am making in this post will no doubt be controversial for those who have no experience with engine building, component design and high end research and development.

Ask 100 professional engine builders what break in procedure they use (no matter the form of motor sports) and I would venture that 100% would say LOAD them hard and change the oil often. It’s the ONLY way to properly break in an engine and anyone who says otherwise has not a clue what they are talking about. Why do you load the engine? The main reason is ring seal. From a metallurgical stand point both the rings and cylinder walls must “relax” and “conform” in order to properly mate and seal. If this is not done properly, quickly and in proper form the chances of a proper ring seal can be lost for ever. Your rings and cylinder wall wear could increase; the engine will use more oil and make less power. The worst the cylinder hone and free roundness of the ring are, the harder you better load the engine or you don’t have a chance in hell of getting the rings to seal. Some people are worried that they may break something. That may happen then again it may not. It may happen if you don’t use this break in procedure and then again it might not. For me, if its going to break its going to do it in the first thirty minutes of my taking position of the vehicle I assure you! I will find the weak link now, not later. The break in procedure here is the way ALL engines are being, and should be broke in.
When I say to make hard acceleration runs and load the engine I am not proposing you drop the clutch at 4200+rpm. The consequences of this could be a dropped drive shaft, input shaft, output shaft or the trans itself. Acceleration runs are not the same as drag racing the thing from stop light to stop light and acting like a 16 year old behind the wheel.. You must be in a rolling start and in the middle of low gear you floor the throttle and let the trans shift all the way to what ever speed you wish then let out of the throttle. DO NOT down shift, not ever, not even once during the course of these runs for at least 250-300miles. I put the car in neutral and release all loads after the run but that me. I don’t propose anyone doing this. Its dangerous and you could throw the thing into reverse if your not very careful. If you do not have professional driving experience, don’t do it. If you need more info go here

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



Here is what I do and what I am doing as well as the results from doing so.

Just drove mine off the lot. Has 21 miles on it. The dealer REFUSED to fill it with 93 octane. I told him that it was no big deal just leaves what fuel is in it from the factory and I will fill it at a station across the street.

I had about 25 miles on it when I laid into it with all it had and man oh man what a fricken pooch! It would not even begin to bark the rear tire from a dead stop/full throttle up to 30-35miles and even BOGGED the engine from a dead start.

I have kept doing hard acceleration runs then shift neutral when it hit 90mph. Its got 50miles on it and you can feel it coming around with each additional run. I let it cool down for a couple hours before I took it out again.

After the cool down I went back out. 50miles on the odometer and acceleration runs then shift neutral when it hit 90mph. She is starting to get a little life in her. You can feel the difference about ever five runs or so it gets a little more power.

At about 60miles of acceleration runs to 90mph. It will spin the tires up to second and the ass end will shimmy around a little now. I will let it cool down over night.

80miles on the odometer. Acceleration runs then shift neutral when it hit 90mph. . I can feel it pulling better and better after each acceleration run. Its finally started coming into some power and I mean right fricken NOW! It still feels a little sluggish on the shifts though.

135 miles on the odometer. Its really coming around now! It really wants to fry the tires all the way through low gear but wont quite do it. The traction control and stabiletrac are off but it won’t light them up and accelerate through low gear like a 400hp car should. I will let it cool down over night and lay into it in the morning and see how it goes. I have also noticed that the rear end is starting to squat when I accelerate from a dead launch. Good weight transition for the street but feels a little weird.



165miles on odometer and after overnight cool down. ITS ALIVE !!!! She will fry the tires anytime, anywhere all the way through first, shifts at 6200rpm and turns the tire some in second. Now this is what I wanted and hoped I would wake up to! It flat ass rips up the street all the way through the gears. I have driven a host of low 13, high 12 second cars on the street and this thing will do a low 13 second quarter right now, hands down, no question, no problem. I have driven a plethora of 10 second and 11 second cars as well so I have a good indication of where this stands. I was nothing short of shocked at the power increase. I should say that I was nothing short of shocked at the total lack of power for the first 50 miles or so. It didn’t have 250hp when I drove it off the lot and now, it’s a total animal!! I am loving this!

I now am driving it like I stole it and loving every single second. It’s unbelievable how the throttle response and acceleration has come around. It’s a whole new animal and what a mean little nasty animal it is. You hit the throttle and the power is right there, right now. When you hit the throttle it growls and barks, spins the tires and just hauls ass. I now have a perma-grin that a plastic surgeon could not hope to erase! This is, by far the neatest street car I have ever owned.


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

What RPM are you shifting at?

[Bobby]

Darin another couple of questions for you,

what mileage are you doing you first oil change?

What is you opinion of the people that have cut off the mufflers and gone straight pipe to get more sound, is this a good cheap fix for sound and performance?

and if you use this option will GM try to screw you on your warranty?

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Bobby

on a manuel tranny what RPM are you taking the motor to at shift points?

Its designated stock factory shift points of 5800-5900. After I flashed it we raised it to 6000rpm.

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Bobby

Darin another couple of questions for you,

what mileage are you doing you first oil change?

What is you opinion of the people that have cut off the mufflers and gone straight pipe to get more sound, is this a good cheap fix for sound and performance?

and if you use this option will GM try to screw you on your warranty?

I have apost above about oil changes if you care to read it all. I changed at 1400 and should have changed earlier.

Strait pipes are to loud. My long tube ARH with Loud Mouth IIs is loud enouph!

[irvinecamaro]

Originally Posted by chappy48

If you can't find a lonely road to do it and can only do it on the freeway, I would shift it into 6th, that's your best bet.

So let me get this straight. Once I get up to the desired speed and shift the car in neutral and slow down (to say 50 MPH) then to speed up again just shift the car in to 6th instead of like 3rd to avid engine breaking? Is this correct? Would this load the engine too much? Do you think there will be any problems with this approach? Thanks for your help.

[Bobby]

ok so if I understand this correctly I have a manuel tranny so I can take it to 6, so you suggest taking say take off easy in 1st shift 6000 rpm 2nd 6000 rpm and 3rd to 6000 rpm, and from there go neutral and shift into 6 to ride it out without downshifting

[Bobby]

not sure if you have heard the sound clips but with the cats and the resonators, the muffler delete did not seem that loud, have you seen that post?

[Bobby]

here is that thread for the muffler delete i was talking about. Sounds pretty good.

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24815

[EdRedCamaro2]

Originally Posted by Bobby

ok so if I understand this correctly I have a manuel tranny so I can take it to 6, so you suggest taking say take off easy in 1st shift 6000 rpm 2nd 6000 rpm and 3rd to 6000 rpm, and from there go neutral and shift into 6 to ride it out without downshifting

I hope this is correct, because that is exactly what I have been doing. I have found a pair of long uphill highway entrance ramps. By the time I am at the merge point I am already backing off and shifting into 5th-6th and letting her coast down to the legal limit, then to an exit ramp to take me off of the highway.

Then I go to another uphill entrance ramp that takes me in the opposite direction and repeat the process, bringing me back to the original exit/ entrance ramp. I repeat the loop process about 3-4 times and then head home and let her cool off. It is a great thrill ride, the gift that keeps on giving!

[Bobby]

they run strong thats why I bought it

[robertway]

Darin,

Thank you for the wealth of knowledge in this thread. My father is a good ol' HEMI Mopar man from the "glory days" and has done his share of street racing, bracket racing at the strip, as well as having built his own engines and engines that have run at Daytona (back when there were "qualifying engines", minus a ring here or there) on down to the local Modifieds running at the oval in Wall, NJ. I showed him this thread and after getting through the whole thing he shook his head and said you've got it so wrong......

It isn't a proper break-in unless you leave rubber in the dealer parking lot and then call them later to make sure they could hear the car for at least ten minutes as you made your way out of town...

The funny thing he said was "I don't know about all this computer crap, the only computer I had back in my day was connected to my shifter, my clutch, and my gas pedal, I guess my computer was broken because it always failed to operate the brake most days"...

Thanks again Darin for the detail you have put behind what my Pop said from day one, "drive it like you stole it, then bring it to my house so I can steal it for a little while"....