Welp, went to pick up my car yesterday. I left at 11:30 am and made it to Rowlett about 5:30 pm and made it back at about 5:30 AM. I left marvelspeed about 6:00 PM initially but when I got the car on 635 at 70mph it started to get warm (ie 220) so I turned around and went back. They installed the wind shield under the engine to help force air through the front, drilled some holes on the thermostat, backed the timing off a bit and cut out a section of the factory front end to let more air in.

After several test runs and changing things we ended up taking the thermostat out completely and finally got it down to reasonable temps (199 while driving, it was lower at idle).

I left Rowlett at 11:30 PM. By the time I got to Weatherford to fill up, the engine had broken in enough and was running about 180. It would heat up to 197 when going up a hill or when I stopped pulling vacuum and was boosting 1-3 psi on a long hill but i'd turn on the heater full blast and roll down the windows and it'd cool off.

Started out that 70 mph was as fast as I could go without it starting to get warm on me and by the time I got to Lubbock I could run 90 with no temp increases and still pulling vacuum. Temp was running between 180 and 188. 420 miles in one strech does an engine good.

Engine sounds really strong and it wants to come on boost, many times on the way back I had to let out of the gas and down shift, going up ranger hill for example, because the boost wanted to come on.

Thinking about using some water wetter. Anyone have any experience with it?

 

interstate miles arent the same as city driving though...
i though it was 1000-2000k of city miles before it was considered safe to really start boosting....

its needs to reach a wide variety of rpms while being broke in hince the city driving......

 

i've heard that too.

 

Well, I drove 100 miles at 60, a 100 miles at 70, 100 at 80 and last 100 a mix of 70 to 90.

 

I still dont think that is correct break in procedure for an engine. Driving a long time with a constant rpm doesnt help the break in process. I think you need to do a lot of city driving.

EDIT: Now would be a good time to change your oil by the way.

 

Sounds like I'll be doing some serious in town driving. Haven't just cruised around in 10 years.

 

time to cruise....

and yes change your oil

just fill up a tank, and drive around all day.....hitting stop lights and what not

waste a few full tanks, and you should be almost there....dont rush it though.....you'll thank yourself in the long run

 

no one wants to see pics??

 

I'd like to see pics, and I second the break-in procedure. You should vary the rpms, probably not past 3500-4000. and highway miles aren't good for a new rebuild. Also, I don't think you should hit boost at all during the first 2000 miles. Break in time may be wrong, I've just heard that many times for a turbo.

 

looks clean. I don't prefer the speaker setup, I prefer an easily removable box for autoX. I like the TV and DVD setup though. nice work.

 

 

Snap! That bay looks clean. I envy you.

 

What's it going to run ya think?
Ecu? and the most important how much boost? haha

 

DEAR LORD MAN!? HOW MANY IGNITIONS DO YOU HAVE IN THERE?!?!?!!

 

See, this is what makes me wonder about you guys...most of you have never touched a rebuilt engine, yet you seem to know more than the man who owns this one about how he should treat it. Dont you think that if the *builder* of the engine thought the drive 500 miles home was a bad thing, he would have said so before letting him drive off on the interstate?

THe fact is I do these every day. In my experience, a road trip is a great break in method. Driving in-town will take you months to complete the breakin, and hundreds of dollars in gas. Sure, its good to vary rpms a bit and shift up/down, which can also be done on the interstate, especially if you live in a somewhat hilly area.

As a builder myself, I have YET to have anyone scientifically explain to me why highway driving is no good for the breakin. Look at the facts:

-if you get new rotorhousings, you have very little breakin...a perfectly flat housing surface against a perfectly flat apex seal surface. A couple of days of run time and it's pretty much done all it's going to do. Just like when the engine was new from the showroom floor.
-if you get used rotorhousings, you have more of a breakin. The flat seal has to wear to the imperfect housing.
-given the above situation, what will cause the seal to wear into thehousing? The number of sweeps it makes around said housing. So, in theory, the more sweeps a seal makes around a housing, the more closely it will have worn to match.
-the only merit to city driving is the acceleration/deceleration factor. The apex seal actually tilts just a bit in the rotor groove, normally wearing on one edge, and switching to the other edge during deceleration. YOu do want to break in both edges at first, by accel/decel. For me, I accomplish this on a road trip by changing gears every once in a while, and of course accelerating and decelerating, up and down hills, around curves, past cars, etc.
-just letting the car sit in the driveway and idle is better for breakin than shutting it off and putting it in the garage. Remember, you're still making the seals sweep around the housing, and theyre still slowly wearing in. YOu wouldnt want to break in the engine the wholetime this way, but it is a good aid.

 

good to know

 

VERY nice Ride, I love seeing clean work and no Ghetto ****.

 

Good thing you finally picked it up from Dons, I was contemplating driving off with it Everytime I went up there I was always checking out your engine bay

 

Thanks all!!


Yeah Don would have said I don't think it's a good idea to drive it 400 miles down the interstate to get home if he thought it was a bad thing. He is ultimately responsible for how the motor turns out if I follow his directions for the break in.

I'm glad I got it outta there then hybrid!!

I took the day off from work and my buddy and I started on the hood and front end. The hood will be done tomorrow and the front end is fitted and bolted up. Going to take off tommorow as well I guess and install some camber plates and finish up the hood and minor fittament issues on the bumper.

I'll post some pic tomorrow evening once it's back together.

 

Glad to hear everythings going well!

I'm also glad to hear it's finished occupying the middle of Don's shop for the past 5 months or however long

Badass car man. I've seen alot of it when I was up there. I also have to give you lots of props for the badass setup in the back of the car :thumbsup:

 

West TX Rx-7,

Nice car man, very clean. Give us the details on that ignition setup!!

hypntyz7,

Your're absolutely correct. I have not built any rotary engines yet, but the concept applies towards piston engines also. There is a reason engines like to be broken in on a dyno, the reletivly consistant RPMs and ability to vary load. When you have highway miles with hills and such, its much like break-in on a dyno.

Its just sad when a bunch of people, who haven't spent a lot of time with new/rebuilt engines try to give advice that started out as misinformation.