CC 260H, pushrods, lifter set, valve locks and oil seals, springs and retainers are on the way. Just need valves, seats, and, oh yeah, rebuilding the heads.

Hopefully, the existing rocker kit is in decent enough shape....

 

Anyone got good engine break in advice? Most of what I find on line is motorcycle related. I get that it's the same concept, but wonder if someone could provide me a recipe that they've used successfully?

 

Well number one is to break in the cam, 20 mins at 2k rpm. When you drive it I would vary the rpm, dont sit in one spot for to long for the first 50 miles or so. Check out how they break in aircraft engines.

 

66: Thanks.

So, I've picked up that I'm not supposed to lug the engine. But, by varying RPM, do you mean decelerating with the engine (as opposed to brakes). Going fast, slow, slow, fast as necessary. Reving from 0-30 slow sometimes, then fast sometimes?

And how frequently do I change the oil? After a 20-minute break in and then after 50 miles? And do I drop the Rotella T from the plan until a couple hundred miles in and go with a heavier oil?

 

Yeah change it after the break in and after 50-100 miles, I wouldnt go much heavier than 10-30. By varying the rpm I mean dont jump on the freeway and run it at 2500 for ten miles and when you stop at a light or something try to keep the rpms moving up and down. Thats the best way to seat the rings and break in the bearings. Also get a oil drain plug that has a magnet to pick anything up so you know if you have any problems. Are you putting the motor together or is the shop?

 

I'm gonna put it together with some help AT the shop.

 

Ok I like to mix assembly grease with oil when putting parts together, 50/50 mix or untill its like a thin pancake batter.

 

This should be fun...

Use Crane or similar moly cam break-in lube on the cam, it's the only way to get it broken in correctly. That, and look around in this forum for the "break in" oil everyone recommends, or an additive, I forget the name.

You're doing the bottom end too, right?

 

Bottom-end: yeah. Going with a stock rebuild kit. We haven't finalized everything yet, but I'm guessing we'll go .030 over and deck the block to whatever gets me a smidge over 9.

From what I've read, stock was usually like 9.5 or 9. 6 on these engines. I can get gas from some stations around town, and am planning on mixing that with mid-grade most of the time.

 

Deleted, repeating myself.

Reread the first few posts before you deck your block to raise compression.

 

Okay. I guess what I wanted to say was that I am planning on ending up at 9.25 or so. Figure that's a good reasonable ratio that should allow me to run pump gas when necessary. Does that much, at least, make sense?

At this point I figger I need to see what my starting CR is, and then work from there... Whether it's from decking the block or swapping out pistons doesn't matter too much to me: I'm just looking for a reasonable middle-ground between ease of use/reliability and power.

 

If you are using a 390 crank and rods, check 360 pistons and what CR that gives you WITHOUT decking the block.

 

Krewat: So, are there piston specs that ship with a piston in the same way as for a cam card? Aside from just knowin' that they can help, how is their affect on CR calculation reckoned?

Also: Anyone have experience with POP's performance rocker kits? They were the cheapest I could find (picked up the reference on FTE) that looked like it would fit the bill (cheaper than OE).

I decided to add in a Ebrock Performer intake. Figgered blasting all the rust out of the old one would be about the same cost less selling the old one online. Don't imagine the 600 cfm that my Ebrock 1406 is rated at will be insufficient for the task once the upgraded manifold is factored in... (?)

 

See post #11.

Before you buy pistons, you can examine the pin height, dome or dish, and if they have reliefs in them. All the info to fill in the blanks in the CR calculators is needed to figure the static CR.

Read the intro here regarding CR, and check out the pistons for 390s starting on page 26. These are performance pistons.

http://www.kb-silvolite.com/assets/a...ve_catalog.pdf

More of the same here for Silvolite "standard" pistons:

http://www.kb-silvolite.com/assets/0...te_catalog.pdf

360 pistons, as suggested in a prior post, are on page 40.

Using the info including your head combustion chamber size, gasket thickness, any head milling or block decking YOUR ENGINE NEEDS, you can calculate CR.

Do not have the block bored before you buy pistons.

 

85: thanks for that. So, what's the difference (besides price) between a performance piston and a non-performance one? Just geometries?