Engine Break In Procedures
If you have installed a new cam and lifters, then you
should have
started it up with the oil pump primed, and immediately run it up to at
least 1500-2000 rpm fopr about 15 minutes before idling it down. This is
needed to work harden the cam and lifter surfaces. It is kinda spooky to
treat your engine this way after all the careful and meticulous work in
building it, but it is the only way to do it.
Chance the oil and filter quickly. An hour of run time is not too
soon. Anything over a couple hundred miles is probably too long. You
want to remove any debris left over from the build and any metal coming
off of anything during the intial working of the various surfaces.
The smoke that you notice could very easily be due to unseated rings.
Don't worry about it for a while
After the first couple of hundred miles you can start driving it
fairly normally. Don't overheat it. Don't over rev it. Don't lug it.
Don't tax it highly for extended time periods. Don't baby it too much
though.
During the first couple of hundred miles, don't operate it at a single
rpm for extended periods (long highway cruises at the same constant
speed).
Retorque the head, manifolds and all the external nuts and bolts after
a few heating/cooling cycles. Thje head may be ready as early as 15
minutes after fire up, or it may take a week or more.
Mark...
- --
Mark Whatley