New Engine Start up Buick 455

I am very close to starting up my freshly rebuilt 70 455 engine. Engine has Poston C118 camshaft, SP-1 intake, 9.6:1 compression, points distributor with Pretronix ignition and Holley 870 Street Avenger carb. My plan is to add coolant and oil to the engine and prime the oil pump. The timing is set on 0 degrees(DTC). I will start the engine and rev at 2000 rpm for about 15 minutes for break in. Is this a good break in plan?

 

I would use a break in oil or at least a break in additive I use Joe Gibbs oil.
I would run it with water first then add antifreeze after all is happy.
Jamie

 

i zzdp in mine. but joe gibbs or bradd penn oil already have zinc in them.

Cody

 

Best to have 2 people. One in the car the other watching for problems under the hood like gas or oil leaking. It's hard to get the timing right by eyeball before you start it. Have a timing light with an advance dial or mark the balancer. Adjust the timing to 25-30 degrees advanced at 2500 rpm as soon as it starts. Vary the rpm occasionally during break in. Watch the temp gauge! I usually have a garden sprayer handy to spray the radiator to keep the temp down if necessary. Be ready to drain the oil as soon as your done with the break in.

 

Keep us updated with the break in of your 70 455. I am going to break in the very same engine this winter hopefully. A fresh rebuild to go in my 70 GS. Mine has all the parts from TA Performance, roller rockers, high lift cam, aluminum SE stage 1 heads, aluminum intake, sportsman connecting rods, ceramic headers, 3 inch exhaust system....the whole nine yards. I am like a kid waiting for Santa Clause at Christmas thinking about this engine and how its going to rumble when I get it in the car. This stuff is addictive!!! Good luck with your new engine!!!

 

Hi

Just broke mine last month! As it was noted use distilled water instead of antifreeze just incase of leak and easier to clean up. Search in putting timing correct, at around 30 degrees, you need to make another mark on your balancer at 1-3/4" clockwise and then use that new mark at 0 degrees. I used zzdp paste on the cam and zzdp bottle with 5w30 oil. Most breakins will make the engine overheat a little, just make sure you dont let the motor idle. If you need to turn the motor off, just do it. Change the oil after the 20 min breakin. Good luck!

 

We broke in a friends 540 BBC yesterday with all the oil additives and whiped the cam on break in go figure.

Thanks

 

Or a lot as the case may be. You're basically running the car at highway speed while standing still for 20 minutes. Mine started to overheat fairly early on so I shut down and ended up renting one of those industrial high power centrifugal fans and aimed it right at the front of the car. Had a buddy stay on the RPMs while I watched oil presure & water temp and misted the radiator with the garden hose from time to time. No more heat troubles. :TU:

 

I am familar with the 30 degree mark at 1-3/4 clockwise. I have purchased a Crane Cams 99601-1 adjustable vacuum advance kit but have not installed it yet. My plan is to break the engine in and then remove the distributor and add this kit to get 30-32 degrees if timing all in around 2200 rpms Do I need to add this kit before of after break in?

 

Any idea why? double springs? Quality Lifers?
When I break mine in hopefully spring I will use a set of old stock springs for break in they only have 75 pounds on the seat.
Jamie

 

dude we have no clue yet but we`re thinkin the springs,this was a running motor that previously whiped another cam lobe,all parts were comp cams.

Thanks

 

Yea its very possible Larry

 

Stick some mufflers on it so you can listen for bad things. Keep an external oil pressure and temp gage in eyeshot. We use Brad Penn break in oil

 

I leave the vacuum advance disconnected for break in. At 2500 rpm under no load you may have a lot of vacuum and thus a lot more advance than you want at break in if it was hooked up.

 

Make sure you pack the oil pump cavity with a good pertrolum lube. :Smarty:

 

Broke mine on a stand with no belts, ran a hose thru the h20 inlet with an adapter, and a hose out the other end out the garage door. Wiped my first cam out.... yuck! but we broke in four motors like that before mine, just bad luck. broke the second cam in the car, but with the hose again, as my rad isn't big enough for that kinda rpm and no airflow. so the cool water did it's job great. GOOD LUCK!

 

Broke in my engine on this past Saturday and would like to update the process. Went to my local GM dealer ship an purchased 16oz of GM EOS oil additive. The oil that was used was Shell Rotella T1 30wt oil. I brought 2 gallon of the rotella so I could add 6 quarts of oil to the crankcase during breakin. I mixed 12 oz the EOS in one gallon of the oil and added it to the crankcase. Add 2 quarts from the other gall for a total of six quarts. I am doing a frame off restoration on my buick and the body is not yet back on the frame, so i made a bracket and mounted a tach, temp and oil gauge. Wiring a switch that would give power to the distributor and a push button for the starter.

Some fuel was added to the carb and the engine started. I had previously made a 30 degree mark on the harmonic balancer, measured 1.76 inches clockwise on the balancer and used a hack saw to score a swallow line in the balancer and filled the line with white out correction ink. With the regular timing light, I set the timing to 30 degrees at 2500 rpms. This was easy because the yellow spring from the Crane Cams kit were added to the distributor. I advanced the timing a little more to 34-36 degrees because the engine seemed to run a little better with that setting. I let the engine run for about 30 mins and the breakin was complete. Drained the crankcase and changed the filter. p

 

Good job.
gary