RMVette

I'm the original poster...and I'm going to look stupid but I'll ask anyway. What's the proper procedure for break-in?

midyearvette

there is really no certain way to break in rings on a new re build.....proper honing and clearances along with how the rings are installed make all the difference in how well the rings will seat in....there are those who swear by several moderate pulls in a lower gear and letting off the gas to create a high vacuum condition to help seat rings..usually a moot point if equipped with an auto trans.....simply put..if you went through proper cam break in procedure, your rings should have seated then....some say chrome is harder to seat....all depends on the fit and hone job.... there are other factors that will contribute to excessive oil consumption.....

MotorHead

Oh thanks for letting me in on that info, but I think I will break my rings in the proper way. Auto trans doesn't have a low gear that will act as an engine brake ?

BLOCKMAN

I will have to add we build a lot of circle track engines and all are plate honed and seem to seal up on the dyno with no issues, I know some guys that have there blocks honed with out a plate and these guys always have to run rags on there breathers and even after 2 or 3 years of running they still need rags,

My conclusion is the rings never sealed up in 3 years of hard running Iguess they need more then that??? And we have even leaked them down and have seen on an average of 15% leak down.

Proper machine work and honing with get good ring seal.

MotorHead

So they weren't honed with plates and they didn't seat. And you plate hone them and run them on a dyno and they seat ?

Good, sounds like taking a new motor with no mles on it to 6000RPM on a dyno helps seat the rings properly, thanks for confirmation