my thoughts about break in
 

i know everyone has their own ideas, but to me it doesn't seem like it would be good for the engine to never see revs above 4k for the first 1000 miles and then all of the sudden be taken up to redline and driven much harder.

since i've hit 500 miles i've been pretty much observing the 4k limit, but will occasionally let it go up to 4500 rpm, and as i increase in milage i will be slowly increasing my rpm limit. i'm at 700 miles now and i will sometimes let it get up to 5k rpm at partial throttle. i'm still staying below 4k for the most part, and not doing any full throttle acceleration till 1000 miles. but i'm occasionsly letting the engine reach higher revs. a gradual build up to redline and adding more throttle slowly seems like it would be better for it than babying it and then all of the sudden flogging it at 1000 miles.

thoughts on this?

lots of us ended up doing exactly this :D

My thought? I always figured the people that wrote the owenrs manual knew more about the topic than I did since I missed class that day. I take the easy route and stay within the lines (follow the instructions)
:burnrubber:

My dealer said the same thing. Keep it under 4k for the first 1000. I intend to do it since I care about the car, not whether or not it is necessary.

92 mph is 4k rpm just fyi. (Fastest toll road in the US in Texas, 85 mph speed limit, SH 110!)

SH130*

Sometimes I take it home even though it adds about 15min/10mi onto my trip time

You've obviously put some thought into this. However, without testing and comparison it is just speculation. There is always some guy who will tell you it is dead wrong and another who will tell you why it worked perfectly for him. But if it isn't based on sound analysis it is pointless.

This ^

It absolutely killed my gas mileage on the trip to SA. I've noticed anything above 75-80 tanks your MPG. Anything below, I've been getting 27-28.

You're still doing something to kill your MPG then, because I'm getting 30s, and I run it pretty hard lol.

Proof: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/stiex/frs

I bought mine on a friday and tracked it on a sunday. I put 500 miles on her and did an oil change before tracking her. Ive got around 3.5k miles and most of them are track. I have not had a CEL or any other problem so i think what ever i did worked :)

my engine saw redline in the first 100 miles...all my engines (most of which I build personally) see redline either during breakin on the dyno, or in the first 100 street miles, an understanding of metalurgy and the surface finishes in the bore will tell you why this is not only OK but preferable.

Break in is the period of time where the motor "seats" the rings to the cylinder walls, repetitive friction on a surface "work hardens" the material, what you ideally want is the rings to use the minimal abrasive action from the cylinder finish hone to normalize the ring shape to the individual cylinder wall, this requires cylinder pressure to force the rings against the cylinder wall, WOT and high rev's create cylinder pressure. and are therefore REQUIRED to create the best ring seal possible, before you work harden the cylinder walls and the ring faces. (which are already appreciably hard)

There once was a time before what is known as plateau honing, that you could wear out the hatching left in the cylinder with too much cylinder pressure during break in, but those days have long since past.


So why is there a break in procedure then (because i know you all think im stupid by now...obviously) well because the Manufacturer knows that you will still get an acceptable ring seal driving gingerly, worst case scenario you lose some cylinder pressure and a few HP, maybe burn a bit more oil consumption (with a mfg specified 1000 mile break n procedure) but the manufacturer has a lower chance (albeit slight) of brand new car engine failures. Also the clutch really does need about 300-400 miles of nice easy engagement without significant shock to ensure optimal life.

Take with a grain of salt, but remember always that corporations rarely have you or your property's best interest in mind, when they write literature, it is to cover their ass...not protect your investment.

my friend is a mechanic and he told me the process was just a myth.. so i drove my car pretty hard after 500.. up to 7k rpm on shifts

Only time will tell.

Just guessing but someone would probably have to have north of 100k miles before the results started to show themselves.