Running-in a rebuild.

[LoudPedal]

Guy did tell me but I have lost the instructions:-

I have had a GC Lancia 2.1 TC rebuilt and need to know what to do and when to do it now it is on the road because the people that did the work have also lost the instructions.

The engine has been treated fairly gently; kept below 5,000 rpm, no more than 1/4 throttle, and I have now put about 300 miles on it.

All replies treated seriously,
thanks,

Mac Allardyce

[Guy Croft]

GUY CROFT RACING ENGINES Aug 08

ENGINE START-UP INFO – READ ALL THE WAY THRU - BEFORE STARTING ENGINE!

1ST START-UP

1. Ensure sump plug is secure. Check all oil and water hose connections and oil filter for security. Fill cooling system with 50% Fiat Paraflu mix. Fill engine oil to level on dipstick. Use non-synthetic 10W/40 oil for break-in eg Castrol GTX. It is recommended for initial start-up that the feed to the oil pressure accumulator (if fitted) be blanked off via the gate valve to prevent the accumulator drawing oil from the engine. The accumulator is not needed during run-in (break-in) and the additional oil for the accumulator can be added later when the engine is run-in
2. Competition cams should be liberally coated with a good brand of cam lube or smeared with molybdenum disulphide grease and this should be done prior to first cranking. Do not then leave the engine sitting for days because the cam lube will drain away. Remove the cambox cover and use engine oil to fully lubricate the camboxes and valve train, fill the oil filter, cooler, turbo feed-line, remote filter (if used) and as many of the oil lines as practicable.
3. Remove spark plugs. Isolate the electric fuel pump and the ignition coil live feed. If the engine has been sitting for more than a month you must ensure the pump is primed by removing the oil filter housing or accessing the feed hose to the oil pump and squirting oil down the drilling to the pump. You must not hook up oil lines until oil comes out of this gallery when the engine is cranked over.
4. Crank up oil pressure with the plugs out and the throttle wide open. Do not crank the engine for more than 7-8 secs continuously and for more than 20sec altogether, the oil pressure should come up by this time. Do not start the unit until oil pressure registers on the oil pressure gauge. An excellent method of priming on the early TC engine is to spin the aux driveshaft with a high-torque electric drill, although this does mean removing the cambelt. (Do not do this on units of 79.2mm stroke or longer unless aux d/s has been modified to remove fuel pump lobe)
5. Connect the fuel pump, allow the system to fill and check for fuel leaks. Fuel leaks on FI engines are extremely serious.
6. Connect the ignition system and check that it generates sparks when the engine is cranked, by holding the main feed from the coil to the distributor 0.5cm from an earth point. Both injected and carburetted engines will spray fuel out of the cylinders (unless the fuel pump is isolated or the carb float chamber is empty) so keep the HT lead well away and wear eye protection. Keep a CO2 extinguisher to hand. (A good test that all the injectors are working: the fuel pumping out of the plug holes when the engine is cranked can be ignited with a small butane torch – there should be a blue flame on each compression stroke. Be aware of the risk of this flame igniting anything and wear eye protection)
7. Fit standard road plugs for the initial start-up.
8. Start engine with minimum application of the throttle.
9. If new cams have been fitted it is vital to keep the engine running at fast idle (about 2000 rpm for 5 minutes to allow cams to bed in. Then turn off.
10. Restart and adjust idle speed to 800 rpm and strobe/set ignition timing (usually 10 deg +/- 2 deg at 800 rpm is about right). When the engine is hot things tend to sag and move! Make sure nothing is contacting where it shouldn’t be eg: oil line to pressure gauge on exhaust, coolant hoses, cambelt on cover etc. Take time go round and double check that everything from the silencer to the alternator belt is secure!


2nd START-UP – ignore this if using a rolling road for calibration prior to (or for) break-in.

1. Check cooling system for leaks. Don’t ignore drips – they usually get worse.
2. Check oil level and top-up if required.
3. Start engine, check oil pressure and run engine at range of speeds to max 3000 rpm off-load to warm up and check cooling system integrity and temperature. If you are confident that the engine calibration is correct the engine should respond normally when the throttle is blipped lightly.
4. You can now drive the vehicle but for no more than 1/2hr and only at low load and speed, or leave it idling for 1/2hr, but do keep a careful watch on temperatures and make sure the cooling fan cuts in by 90 deg C max. Fit the race plugs if specified.


BREAK-IN PERIOD ignore this if using a rolling road for calibration prior to (or for) break-in.


1. For the 1st hour do just local driving and do not exceed ½ throttle and 4500rpm. Use the gears very freely and at all costs avoid ‘high-gear – low engine speed’ as this will lead to heavy bearing load with low oil pump output. Stop frequently and check the underbonnet region for leaks and problems. Make sure oil pressure and engine temp is OK and stop immediately at any sign of overheating. Test the engine response on a quiet local circular route void of traffic lights and congestion and don’t venture too far, as the engine may require rolling–road tuning to confirm jetting. Do periodic spark plug checks; the plugs should be pale brown to grey around the outer body of the plug with insulator nose pale brown to yellow-white. If the mixture is too lean the engine will overheat and if the mixture is very over-rich, terminal piston ring and bearing damage may result. If the engine shows any sign of labouring switch off recover the car by towing or trailer.
2. After the first hour of light running you should carry out a compression test. Typically the low compression engine (7.2/1) will give 180 psi or over and high compression units 210 or more. There should be no more than 5% variance between cylinders.
3. Continue the break-in phase and extend throttle to 3/4 and 5000rpm. The engine requires to be driven at a range of speeds within these limits for a further 200 miles to fully bed in, but make sure that increased speed and load is accompanied by periodic plug checks to confirm mixture or damage may occur. Do not attempt full-throttle runs until you have put the race oil in the engine and changed the filter.
4. Check valve clearances not longer than 4 hrs after break-in period.


After the break-in period change oil and filter, race grade oil must be used, the only race oil
I recommend personally Selenia Racing. My strong recommendation is use oil with not less than 50 high temperature viscosity rating, with certification API SH or SJ, CCMG G4 or higher.

MISC NOTES:

The engine must have extensive confirmatory power runs at low load to check calibration before break-in and under more power after the break-in phase. It is a good idea to run-in the unit on a rolling road.
Use of dash-mounted Lambda sensor or other mixture-metering device is strongly recommended.
At no time and especially under full load on a hot day must temps exceed:

Coolant: 75-80 deg C
Oil: 80-90 deg C
Air inlet temp (turbocharged) 45 deg C

It is vital that the engine is fitted with a separate & very accurately set tdc pointer to the crank front pulley that can be used with a strobe to check ignition timing. The sensor and trigger wheel cannot be used for this and if the strobe reading is wrong so will be the ignition timing throughout the whole load site range. Setting tdc requires a dti and protractor and should ideally be done before the engine is installed.


GC

[LoudPedal]

Thanks Guy!

One thing I already have noticed is the difference the new cam makes. The torque comes in much later but without compromising driveability; I am looking forward to the pick-up into the power band from 5k.

Mac

[LoudPedal]

Photos will be put up very soon.