I was wondering if anyone has tried this product. Its applied to the cylinder walls during engine assembly to break in the rings quickly during the first moments after start up. I'm in the process of building up a 460 cid to run on propane and one of the attributes of this fuel is that there are no abrasive carbon byproducts to help lap the rings to the cylinder walls. Dual fuel setups are fine because the initial break in can be done on gasoline but my setup is propane only. The carb, gas tanks, fuel pump, and lines were removed by the original owner.
If anyone has any tips for ring seating please speak up. Thanks.

 

I have no experience with the dry film. However, the rings will seat regardless of the fuel used as long as the final hone is done properly. Also it helps to use straight weight SAE30 motor oil without any moly anti-wear additives for the initial break in. The rings will see some carbon even with propane until the rings seat. Let us know what you decide and the results of the project. Cheers.

 

Diesel engine oil is being used for cam break in. Modern gasoline engine oils do not have the proper additives for cam and lifter break in. There is more information on oils in the Oil and Lube forum. Propane break in procedure information may also be found in the Alternative Fuel forum. I wonder what this compound does to the cam, lifters, valve train, oil pump, piston skirts, and bearings?

 

Use normal detergent motor oil - a light coat on everything.
No magic elixers
No potions
No powders
No non-detergent oils
No synthetics (not for break in)
Plain old oil.

I managed Speed-Pro for 12 years. I've seen LOTS of piston rings.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm just getting the rockers on now so it will probably be a week or two before saying a short prayer to the Gods of Internal Combustion then the first start-up. I'll report back afterwards.

 

Check the lube forum on oils to use on cam break in. There has been a high failure rate recently on cam break ins due to modern oil not having the proper additives. Wiping your cam lobes while trying to get the rings to seat would not be a good thing.

 

Comp Cams makes a cam break-in additive to replace the stuff that's no longer in the modern oils.-P.

 

Got it covered guys, thanks. My cam grinding specialist said to put in a zinc rich additive to help lap in the lobes and lifters. Apparently the oil companies put in less zinc nowadays because most new engines have roller cams and also because the zinc wasn't good for the environment..............though,...we're not either.

 

wondering how that (zinc) will help the rings seat. I have the same issue with a 400 that i'm building for propane- plan on burning higher octane petrol until it's broken in...hard to get info on propane specific builds and everyone seems to be guessing so i decided to bypass propane for a few hours. I have a roller cam so not as concerned about oil but will still likely run rotella...get it free :-)
what do you plan on running for a propane carb? I have a carbtech offroad model that I'll put on once it's broken in. Plans have a way of changing!!!

 

Propane specific build info is a little easier to come by here in Canada but it's still been a battle. Some of the keys are; hardened exhaust seat inserts, low temp. (160) thermostat, recurve the dist., and do not use chrome rings.
My mixer is a low tech Impco 425 (circa 1984) that was on there when I bought it. The gas tanks, fuel lines and pump were removed long ago so the only way to run mine on gas would be a lot of trouble. I may just put my faith in the honing as Twinscrew posted.
What compession ratio are you going for? I decided to only go up to 9.5 because it'll be heavily loaded all the time.
Work commitments are keeping me from installing my beast but it's all ready to go....maybe next weekend.

 

I have hardened exhaust and intake as well. No chrome rings??? guess I can return the ones I got. Whats the deal with the moly rings?

I would like to keep mine dual fuel as I should be ok for e85 once it's available. I am also going with 9.5 with a retro roller cam and with the quench design (keith black pistons just came out special make by TMI for the aussie closed chamber heads) I should be able to run 87pump. Was going higher but am concerned with dynamic compression being over say 9.1 or even close to that due to heat and wear- I want it to last a long time and will pull loads as well.

I also have open chamber heads and badger flattop pistons that were made for propane intially- I've heard that the open chamber head and flattop work better for propane burn characteristics but am not convinced- have any info on that? Seems that quench is just that but....?

I'm running a 112, 118 @ 050 with 110dur cam with 520 lift on each- just got aussie heads back to finish porting after machine shop put in the 16 hardened seats- running 2.19, 1.71 valves and had to take more material out with the larger seats- should flow well. Also have scorpion roller rockers, rollmaster dbl roller chain and romac balancer. getting it balanced next then start putting it together. Lots of $$$ in this now.

see...ask a question and I'll gab, gab, gab.

 

also...what motor do you run?

 

Mines a 460 in a 24' motorhome with a 3500# box trailer behind, about 14000# in all. We have a lot of nasty mountain passes here as well.
I'm using the moly rings and was told the chrome rings would probably never break in with propane because of their hardness. You could use them just fine with your dual fuel setup but don't switch to propane until the rings are completly lapped in. I guess that distance would depend on how much load you put on it during those first few thousand miles.
I plan on doing 100 easy miles after the cam run in, then load 'er up. It would sure be a major bummer to tear it all down again if the rings don't seat.
The costs do add up don't they? I've done a lot of prep work myself but the machining, balancing and parts are about 4K so far. This is a 22 year old truck so that includes motor mounts, rad rebuild etc.
Dependability is my first goal, power and economy are next. I've been stuck on the side of the road a thosand miles from home once and that's something I don't care to repeat!

 

Hey Fear,
In a build like yours, performing scheduled oil changes using conventional oil, the good old cast iron cannot be beat. They'll seat quickly, then go 500,000 miles. If that's not enough miles use synthetic. A million miles should be easy to achieve with a synthetic lubed engine on propane. Leave the moly and chrome rings to the racecars and don't look back.

 

sounds good to me. maybe get to spend the $$ somewhere else.