I am sure that this topic has been discussed before but I need some advice on the 383 stroker that will soon be going into my 87 C4.
What grades of oil and types would you use to break the engine in with?
After that, I plan to go to Mobile1 but not sure of what weight?
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so weather conditions here as a rule are quite moderate overall and rarely below freezing or above 100 degrees.
This will be mainly a street engine and the clearances are set for just that but will be doing some light Bracket racing from time to time..
Thanks,
Jim

 

The cam shaft is what you have to worry about initially. Go with what the cam grinder recommends to do the initial break in. It's use to be a hight detergent SAE 30 convential motor oil was what they recommeded. It may have changed. Crane Cams also specified a Pennslyvania crude based lube oil (aka, Pennzoil/Quakerstate) I've noticed that the bottles of Pennzoil on the shelf don't say Oil City, PA anymore, so not sure what to tell you there. At any rate, the cam grinder will specify. As for what you run afterwards, go to Mobil's web site and send them email and they will tell you what is best. That's what they're in business for. Also, go to www.redlineoil.com, that's an outstanding site when it comes to lubrication. Best of luck!

 

Just run 10W 30 mineral oil in the engine for the break in period. Then switch over to the synthetic and start with 10W 30 and see what the pressure is. That is what I run in my 600hp 355cid and it has tons of pressure when hot. If you don't need the higher pressure drop the weight. As for the cam, if it is a non roller, you will need to coat it with the lube supplied with the cam.

 

The cam is a California emissions legal Crane and the block is a factory roller lifter type. The cam was degreed in using the lube supplied by Crane so I should be OK in that department. I plan to change both the oil and filter around the 100 mile mark to rid the engine of any small fragments that it may have collected during the run in time.
Not planning to run any synthetic until about 2000 miles or so to assuire that the rings are well seated.

I appreciate everyones input, it gives me some ideas of what to do as well as what not.

 

Thanks Gary for the e-mail but I would prefer not to start out with Mobll1 until I have a few miles on the engine.
I have heard that many came new from the factory with synthetic oil so it does indeed raise another question?

 

The Search feature above should let you find this in the Tech archives.

Start with dino oil, and the rest will vary with manufacturer. Some change at 100-500-1500 then M1, some do 500-1000 then M1...while preventing the engine from spending too much time at a certain rpm and also keeping it at reasonable rpms until the break-in is finished.

 

while preventing the engine from spending too much time at a certain rpm and also keeping it at reasonable rpms until the break-in is finished.

Hi Jim,

I agree with running the engine at different rpm's during break in rather than just putting on miles within a narrow rpm band. In my original 383, the engine builder said to get on it hard during initial break-in miles in order to seat the rings (this did not mean run high rpms, just full throttle for several seconds several times relatively early in the process, like almost right outside the garage door the first time ). I did and the engine was still running strong at 100,000 miles when I sold it. I do not recall ever having to add oil in between oil changes.

I am sure there might be some varying opinions on this aspect, but it worked for me.

Geo

 

Read and follow this:
http://mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

When i did build my 355 with cam/head package i run hard, break hard everything was hard driving for atleast 500 miles,
i change oil (dino reguler 10w 30) at 5 25 100 500 1000 intervals and after 1500 miles switched to Mobil1 10w-30.

Hard driving is recommended to seal rings perfectly seated so that oil burn issue will not be there in future.

 

 

I am glad I brought up this topic as the general consensus seems to be drive it hard out of the box once the engine gets up to operating temperatures.
One of my biggest concerns was getting the rings to seat properly and avoid having to add oil before the reccomended changes.

I am a few month's away from getting the engine in the car and only a few things left to buy such as oil filters of which I will need many considering the number of changes that I will be doing before I hit the 1,500-2000 mile mark.
The next decision to make will be to determine what oil to use during the break in period before I can swith to Mobil1 which will be down the road.

Your input has been important to me and I appreciate all who have responded to this thread.
Once the car is running and I get it out to the track for testing, I will give you a complete report on how this California emissions legal 383 stroker performed.
Wish I could find a legal set of California emissions legal headers for my 87 C4 but it looks like no one makes them and so I will be stuck with the extra set of stock exhaust manifolds that I bought on E-Bay which are coated that will get some port matching done to them.
I don't want to buy a set of headers that I would end up swapping back and forth when it comes time for the smog tests and I was wondering what the rest of you other California C4 owners did to improve the flow characteristics of yours?
I have a very good friend who works at Flowmaster in Santa Rosa Ca. as a Tech but unfortunately do not want to deal with the resonance noise so it looks like Corsa's down the line as an option.

 

Good luck for setup, if u like flowmaster's than i recommend Tpis Flowmaster Force II 600 bucks cant beat that and no resonance at all. I had now and love it and more rumble and cheaper than corsa's.

 

Start out using regular dino oil. Follow the Cam manufactures recomendations. After that put 20 miles on the engine and change the oil with dino again. Go another 450 to 500 miles of driving it like you stole it, then change to whatever oil you will be running normally.

I have done this many times over the last 20+ yrs. and never have had a problem.

 

Thanks all for your input and it appears that my car is going to see some hard driving almost from the get go.
From where the engine is to be installed which is in Sonoma California to my house is about 40 miles or so with some good sections of highway in between to vary the speeds to assist in helping the rings get seated.
Once home, will drain the oil and filter then will take it out for some more fun and drain the oil and change the filter at 500 miles and then repeat at 1000 miles.
Can hardly wait but with Winter coming on, this might not take place until Spring but then again, it all revolves about the Northern California weather.
Working at Infineon Raceway has it's advantages, get to make a few time runs before I start work and get paid for doing what I love most.
Full report coming on my California emissions legal 383 stroker once I get it to the track for testing.... Stay tuned