Originally Posted by Doughboy2k3

Your father has many friends on this forum and has helped many people with his knowledge. Just a few weeks ago I PM'd him and he gave me great advice on steps I should take prior to firing my new engine.
Below is the PM your father sent me. You can use in when you fire your new engine one day. -Walt




Hi, Walt.

Here are my thoughts and how I do mine:

First off, of course, the lifter preload has to be properly set. I strongly recommend the IC/EO method. If the preload isn't right the engine will have a really hard time running, that is if it'll run at all. So that's crucial.

Many guys don't prime the oiling system well enough. You should use an oil priming tool attached to a 1/2" drive electric drill and prime the system until oil comes for all 16 rocker arms.

This will take some time and will also require you to manually turn over the engine many times in order for oil pressure to reach all the lifters, then pushrods and finally rocker arms. As it does that the priming will force all the air out of the oil galleries.

Prime, prime, prime and when oil is seen coming from a rocker arm keep priming until not air comes out along with that oil. You want to force out all the air.

Then turn the engine over - manually - a very little, maybe 1/8th turn - and begin priming some more. Keep repeating that until all the rockers are flowing oil with no air bubbles.

While priming, have someone keep a look out for any oil leak.

A 1/2" drill will be needed because a 3/8" drill will over-heat. Also, don't use synthetic oil for the break-in. Rings seat quicker and better by using good old dyno oil.

Once the oil system is well primed, it's time to install the distributor which I always do as follows:

I remove the #1 spar plug, then either manually or with a bump starter turn over the engine while detecting when the #1 piston is on the compression stroke. If I'm alone, I stick a piece of toilet paper/paper towel in the #1 spark plug hole.

Using the starter, I bump the engine until the cylinder pressure forces out the paper/towel. With a helper, I let him/her turn the ignition key and do the bumping. While doing that I have my finger in the #1 hole and feel for compression building.

The ideal position is for the timing mark on the balancer/damper to stop somewhere between 4 and 10 degrees BTDC. Our engines need some amount of timing advance in order to start and run immediately.

So, now we have the timing mark aligned with between 4 and 10 BTDC on the COMPRESSION STROKE, time to drop in the distributor.

When you do align the rotor tip with the distributor cap's #1 terminal. As you probably know, the #1 terminal in the distributor cap can be anywhere - the engine doesn't know or even care. Just as long as all the other wires are in the proper sequence 1, 8, 4, 3, etc.

This most often requires aligning the distributor with the oil pump drive shaft.

Some guys use a long screwdriver to turn the oil pump drive rod so it properly aligns with the distributor. Others do as I do and just drop in the distributor to as far as it will go then just bump over the engine using the starter. At some point the distributor and oil pump drive rod will align with each other and the distributor will drop all the way down, flush with the intake.

Install the hold down clamp and make all the electrical connections to the distributor.

I prime the fuel system by turning the ignition key on, off - wait - on, off - wait - etc. I attach my fuel pressure gauge to the Schrader valve location so I can visually monitor the fuel pressure wile doing this.

Fill, top off the coolant; check for any tools, rags, etc. that may be in the way. I then look at all my connections, hoses, etc., to make sure none has been left disconnected.

I DON'T DISCONNECT THE BY-PASS WIRE. I leave it plugged in so the engine will get full timing once it starts. If the By-Pass is disconnected, the engine will only get a small amount of timing advance and will quickly overheat. If you're running headers they'll turn a new, cherry red too.

I DON'T DISCONNECT THE FPR VACUUM HOSE. Unless you have an adjustable FPR, there's no setting of the fuel pressure required or possible. Fuel pressure is automatically controlled by the regulator.

I DON'T DISCONNECT THE IAC.

If the lifter preload was set correctly and nothing was left disconnected, the engine should quickly fire and run.

FIRST THING TO CHECK IS OIL PRESSURE.

Immediately after seeing the reading check for any sign of a fuel leak. Now check OIL PRESSURE AGAIN. Then look for coolant temp and any sign of coolant leak.

Since you're running a roller cam, you can keep the engine RPMs on the low side - 1500/2000 - until you've verified no leak and good oil pressure. Vary the RPM to cause oil to be sprayed/splashed to all the internal parts of the engine.

WATCH OIL PRESSURE LIKE A HAWK!

IF YOU FIND ANYTHING AMISS, SHUT DOWN THE ENGINE TO ADDRESS IT. Don't try fixing it with the engine running. Shut down the engine, fix the problem, re-fire.

Once the engine will idle on it's own, shut it down, disconnect the by-pass wire and re-fire the engine. Set the base ignition timing to 6 degrees BTDC, which is the stock recommended setting. You can always play with that setting later once the engine is through with its teething-pains.

I always change my oil and filter right after the initial fire-up, timing setting, coolant top off, etc. If the engine's been run for, say, half an hour, that's long enough to me before putting in fresh oil and a new filter.

Once the engine has stabilized, has fresh oil, etc., I take it out for it's first drive. I find a roadway with minimal traffic and load and unload the engine to help seat the rings.

There are different opinions on break-in, here's how I do mine:

Half throttle in 2nd gear to 3500 or so, then release the pedal and let the engine pull down back to near idle speed, then I repeat that. I do that several times then increase my pedal pressure to, say 3/4 throttle to around 4000, always letting the engine pull down with no pedal pressure.

ALL THE WHILE WATCHING OIL PRESSURE LIKE A HAWK!

Hopefully everything will go smoothly, but don't be discouraged if there's hiccup or two. Newly built engines often go through their problems.

Let me know if I can help further. GOOD LUCK!

Jake

Originally Posted by C-4 Now

Ryan! I missed this until now, but want you to know that you & your family our in our thought and prayers! Always respected Jake's point of view on many Corvette topics. We will miss that!