From: root@elektro.cmhnet.org (Charlie Smith)
Subject: Bzzzzt!  Was: How to break-in new rings?
Followup-To: charlie@elektro.cmhnet.org
Summary: Sam, grab the net!
Keywords: ohmygod dweeb
Organization: Why do you suspect that?
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 92 00:10:31 GMT

In article <BvnJ6J.1CL@vuse.vanderbilt.edu> dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (The Nashville Flash) writes:
>In article <1992Oct5.124533.14332@bnr.ca> space%bnr.ca (Scott Pace) writes:
>>
>>After having the cylinder bores honed (to break the glaze), what's the DoD
>>approved method for properly breaking-in new piston rings (original
>>pistons)?  
>
>If you want to seal the rings quickly, here's the scoop...

You notice he carefully doesn't say a scoop of what!

>Wash the cylinders and pistons with detergent and water.  Dry thoroughly.
>Leave them sit out overnight. Reassemble with just a thumbprint of motor 
>oil on the piston skirts.  

Why not just spit on them?  That might lubricate a little better!

>Put oil in the engine as you normally would.  
>After all the pre-startup checks, start the motor and run it up to about 
>3000-4000 rpm and hold it there for about one minute.  

Or until it seizes up, whichever comes first.

>It WILL sound VERY strange (zzzZZZZZZZzzz) to start with.  

Sure will. This is the sound of pistons/piston rings galling cylinder walls.


>Shut it off and let it sit until it cools down.  Done.  

Yup.  Really done it now.

>As with all fresh motors, run the oil only a few hundred miles.

Since this isn't a fresh motor any more ... this advice to change 
oil doesn't apply.  You might lighten the bike at this point by removing
the metal particles from the crankcase, though.

>
>Flame away if you like.  Udo Geitl (sp?) did this on Reg Pridmore's bikes.

Who would ever think of casting aspersions on your suggested method for
instantly creating a pseudo-antique bike?

>I've seen it work with BMW and Ducati.  Ask Chris "Groucho" Perez.

Notice, he doesn't specify 'what' it is that he has 'seen it work'! 
Yup.  You can also ask Harley Wringfrizzel what *he* thinks!  Harley
will tell you that this was the way they broke in the Spragthorpe's in
the old days.  Worked best when they had Bugatti/Miglia running gear
installed.

>
>Last ditch method... If you've built (or had someone else build) a motor
>and it uses a lot of oil with no signs of seating the rings, try this...
>
>With the motor running at about 3000-4000 rpm, feed a couple of tablespoons
>of Bon Ami(tm) into the carb.  

Valve grinding compound works better, Harley will tell you so!

>Keep it running for a few minutes after you do this.  

If you can keep it running for more than a *few* minutes, you haven't
put enough grinding compound into the carburator!

>Then, change the oil.  You were going to have to tear it down 
>anyway and put NEW rings in the newly honed cylinders, so what do you have 
>to lose?  

The scrap yard will give you just as much for it as they would have before
you started this, so - he's right - you can't lose ...

>According to a reliable source who did this (on the advice of an
>Olde Mechanic(tm)) to the first engine he built back when he was a teenager, 
>this works.

Just waiting for the "Olde Mechanic's (tm) Handbooke" to be published!
Just what I need to show up old Harley!

>============================================================================
> "No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle." - Winston Churchill
>    The Nashville Flash	  -   dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu   -   DoD # 412 


Charlie Smith   csmith@dsac.dla.mil  charlie@elektro.cmhnet.org  whois ces10
MOA# 52888, RA# 15633, DoD# 0709, AMA# 574722, Buckey Beemers 411, BK Ohio V
BMW K1100-LT, R69S, R27 and other even less worthwhile [ 2 | 3 ] wheel stuff
            {  Friends don't let friends ride Japanese bikes  }
                {   Or follow these service procedures!   }