New BRZ - how long to wait before rippn it on the track
 

Hi all,


I have a new 2020 brz. Just wondering how long ya'll think i should wait before ripping er on the track.

I've heard 1000km, 2000km, and like my dad says, never.

What do ya'll think?

Day you buy it!! Drive it like you stoled it!!!

Yah don't ask me. I blew my motor up [emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji24]

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I would wait until, at least, the "break in period" is met. ;-)

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I think the break in is a few thousand miles. It is in the owner's manual. After that, go to town!

The tires should've been spinning off the lot!!

To be fair... Mine were... Then I adhered to the break in rules... Mostly...

What is this "break in" that you speak of ?

Follow break in. It’s there for a reason.

Get it warm and break it in driving home from the dealer.

Change all oils and fluids.

Go to track.

As long as you warm up the car and don't beat on the limiter you will be fine.

Food for thought > https://www.enginelabs.com/news/disp...mance-academy/

https://www.jepistons.com/blog/how-t...k-in-an-engine

My fav > http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I've done quick/hard break ins on every engine I have ever had, none have had issues, none have had excessive blow by.

Opinions, much like blow by, may vary

i've owned 2 brz's.

the first, i bought in january, and i meticulously kept to the break-in schedule for the entire 1,000 painful miles that i finally completed in early april. in march, someone blew a stop sign and totaled it a block away from my house. it was a very long walk home despite the short distance.

the second, i took it off the lot sideways, banging off the rev limiter ;)

Break in is critical to Long engine life.

500 mi below 4500 rpm with varying rpm
No synthetic oil for 3000 mi
Change oil At 500 mi again at 1500 mi.

The early miles are crucial for seating the rings and eliminating contaminants.

Difficulty factor the same as not sleeping with a new girlfriend for a month

Give it a few full heat cycles. Change the oil. Good to go.

Want the engine to last a long time? It's not about the 'break-in'. It's about caring for it over the life of the engine. Let it warm up every time, don't push high load or high rpm until the OIL is up to temp.

Do you think commercial trucks get an easy break-in? Nope, It's full throttle, full load, full boost, all the way to max RPM from day one. Just let the damn thing warm up.

Uhhhh.... doesn't the car come from the factory with a synthetic fill ?

These engines are probably 90% "broken in" from being test run before they even leave the factory. I am a believer in the first early oil change though.

The only engine I've ever "broken in" by going by a strict set of rules was an old SBC with a replacement flat tappet cam. The kind that eat lobes and go flat if you don't do it properly. Thank god we don't use that junk anymore.

Check what the car manual says. There is a break in period.

Here is a link that discusses the subject in detail. Watch the video.


https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...ak-in-new-car/

The break-in period is also for the clutch. You want some gentle miles to ensure there is a nice transfer of friction material.

You guys think that race teams run them gently for a few thousand miles to break them in before taking them to the track? It doesn't take that much to seat the rings.

I used to build a lot of engines for local racers when I worked at the motorcycle shop. I am talking 450's and 250's with 10-12k in parts and head work. They got a few heat cycles, a torque check, a quick blast out back, and were promptly smashed on :burnrubber: Engines with steel liners where given a little more intensive break-in, but not much.

Many schools of thought on engine break-ins, no 100% correct answer.

For maintaining your warranty (if it matters to you), I would suggest following the break-in guide in your manual:

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/pict...ictureid=12131

Personally, I babied it for 1600km before ripping on it at all. I also did an oil change after break-in... again not required or noted in the manual but I've always done that (so has my dad) and our family has never experienced an engine failure and tend to keep our cars 10+ years minimum.

At the end of the day just do what makes you the most comfortable.

It's 500 not several thousand and not sure if motorcycles with random mechanics will transfer to cars straight across the board. I would err on the side of being conservative with an expensive machine. Much more solid info on proper break in than info to the contrary.

There are multiple schools of thought on break in. A lot of it translates about the same depending on some factors, piston type(cast, forged) and liner type(sleave, coated bore). What do you think break in accomplishes? Do you really think it takes 500 miles to seat a set of rings? A lot of what you read in the owners manual is a lawyer band-aid.

Manual instructions are not only for the brake-in of the engine, but for the brake-in of ALL the parts of the car.

I'd say this is a more valid reason then being worried about the engine. But at the same time, how long do you think it takes for wear surfaces in the diff and transmission to bed in? Same with the clutch.

^^This^^

Will you destroy anything by driving hard off the lot? No.

But as other have mentioned, it is not just the engine you are breaking in. Literally every part of the drive train benefits from a break in - as well as the brakes. It is not like the old days of flat tappet cams where you could destroy the engine, but almost all friction interfaces benefit from heat cycling. Things like differential gears won't fail, but might be a bit noisier if abused before heat cycling.

Do professional racers break in engines? No. But they also tear down their engines regularly, and they also pay far more attention to clearances than a factory assembled engine.

Lack of a break in probably won't contribute to component failure within warranty in a modern car, but many manufacturers actually enforce break in with their ECUs so it must be measurable over a large enough population.

Interesting comments.
A perfectly built race engine should run like hell during the race and fail on the way to the winners circle.
We used to drive the snot out of a new engine to see if a rod or main bearing would fail. Better to know before a race than half way through. Now we use an engine dyno. Remember everything on the race engine is checked and rechecked before during and after assembly. {Only able to do this when someone else is sponsoring you.}

A gentle break-in is a better way to get everything seated for a long life. Car manufacturers will be wanting a gentle method for obvious reasons. I do know a few guys that run them hard figuring that if it brakes it is under warrantee. Today that is not as good an idea as many computers now record how you have driven the car.

I wasn't aware there was an actual break-in period in the owners manual but was aware cars shouldn't be driven too hard coming off the lot. I did drive a little bit spirited on a few occasions but since seeing this post I will shift at 4k instead of 5k. I have 900KMs on the car now and car already feel the transmission shifting smoother. Thanks for the useful information.

The NSX is one of the few cars that are pre broken in that you can take from the showroom to the track. That dyno break in isn't cheap so you won't find it often

Bottom line is if you care about longevity you'll break it in properly. Some cars\trucks with low rpm ranges don't really need to worry about it though.

With this car you really have to focus to shift at a lower range. I guess it's a question of habit. On the other hand I'm sure a few high revving shifts won't damage the engine components.

When you think about it, any car on the lot which has been test driven has suffered some kind of early "abuse".

I remember when I bought my 911 Twin Turbo the salesman said to keep it below 150 on the test drive.

True, but then again if the salesperson is not with you during the test drive there is a high chance most people will really open up the vehicle. I did not get any special instructions from the Subaru dealership when testing and buying the vehicle, which sucks I guess.

I don't think I ever went 150, might have went 140 (km/h) on the way back the first day. I'll change the engine oil sooner than the recommended interval.

On the other hand I never use cruise control on that vehicle and always let it warm up before going on a drive.

Most salesmen have no idea and could really give a sh*t what you do as long as you buy the car

Race teams are not running stock lower grade engine components. They also ALWAYS have a second built engine ready for when they blow one up.
Apples to kumquats.

Just how much can you open one up on a test drive anyway? The break in instructions warn against prolonged, steady, high RPMs so unless you do a two hour test drive at 100 Kph in 5th gear you are still within the guidelines.

By any chance do you recall Porsche’s break-in procedure? I ask because of this story:

https://pcaucr.org/12409/

Quotes:

Perhaps it comes better from a Porsche engineer…I asked “why does Porsche feel it is safe for a new engine to run at nearly full throttle in the factory, while the customer must keep the engine speed to no more than 4,000 RPM for a 2,000 mile (3,200 km) break-in period?”

The engineer replied, “Herr Koop, you do not understand (that I already knew). When we do our engine test, the metals inside the engine never reach the temperatures they would when driven on the street since the test session is fairly short. In other words, the bearings, pistons and cylinders never get a chance to thermally expand to their maximum. Therefore, there is little wear on the moving components.

But when you drive a car on the street, the engine parts expand considerably more because of the heat being generated from the engine running for an extended period of time. No matter how tight the tolerances are, there is always a slight amount of expansion in the material. The moving parts can wear quickly if exposed to excessive heat and not always in a uniform way. We also constantly vary the speed and allow the engine to run at both high and low RPM’s”.

“Porsche wants the engine to break-in slowly, which means it needs to maintain a lower operating temperature (below 4,000 RPM) and to allow all parts to adjust (wear in) within their own thermal expansion parameters. This is also the reason Porsche wants the owner to vary the RPM throughout the break-in period; therefore the engine doesn’t get used to one operating temperature range”.

The take away for me regards heat cycles. During break-in, it seems each heat cycle should be a little more than the last to maximize how the metal parts form fit to each other. Does this pass a reasonable scrutiny test?

It works for me built or stock engines, I will continue to do it till I see a reason not too. Except for flat tappet cams, a new one of those gets treated differently.

I don't believe in no break in, I just think the OE is for people with no mechanical sympathy and to ensure it happens so they give excessive mileage numbers before getting on it.

That depends heavily on which series and how well funded the team is. There are many series where all the competitors run stock engines or stock short blocks and a number of the smaller teams aren't going to be holding onto a spare engine.

EDIT: forgot to say that while the above is true; they also don't expect the engines to last the 200k+ kms that people do for a street engine.

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