Originally Posted by
Blackzenki82
Don Ahrens (engine/race car/tranny builder, SCCA E prod racer for last 25+ years), told me @ 200 miles, change oil with conventional, another 2-300 miles change oil again, then another 500 miles, change oil again, then ride out on your last conventional oil change till you reach the total 1500-2000 mile mark, then use whatever type of oil you want, conventional or synthetic, i personally recommend Rotella T 15w40 for all intervals... shit's on point...
as far as driving, you want to drive it like a daily driver, don't romp on it, but don't take it too easy either either either, take it for a small highway trip, maybe 100-200 miles and just cruise. drive it as if you were borrowing your buddys moms car for the 1500-2000 miles...
after that, everything should be well seated, and broken in properly, then go rail on that motherfucker and enjoy all that hard work!!!
break it in right, it'll last forever, break it in wrong and well... deal with whatever comes your way...
there ya go..
couldn't have said it better myself...
the idea is that as things seat properly and break in, you'll get little bits of metal floating around in the oil, which in turn, will tear up your brand new internals. That's why you change the oil so often. The cleaner the better.
You can't really change it too often. Don't use anything like mystery oil or any flushes either when you change it, just let it drip out on its own.
As far as driving it. You don't want to maintain a set rpm for a long time. (is is where me and blackzenkei82 differ) Drive it around town as if you borrowed your buddy's mom's '09 escalade. You know you couldn't afford to fix that shit if it blow up. As far as RPM limits go, it kinda depends on your build. The general idea that I've been told is that you add 1000 rpms every time you do an oil change. (assuming you follow the schedule that blackzenkei laid out) Starting at 2 ish grand. You're not gonna blow up if you go a little over or whatever. The more important part is throttle. The more throttle you give it, the more load the motor is under and load is what is going to cause problems during break in. You just don't want to not use the motor, as in idling up to speed type of thing. You need to create some heat so the oil can function and the metals can expand and shrink as they will.
as for the kind of oil, rotella is pretty good. Don't go below 15w40. most people would say use 20w50 during break in and then just work your way down to the thinner stuff you would use everyday once you're done with break in.