i had a buddy helping me this weekend on finishing up on my 383 stroker and on his way i had him pick up oil and the brake in additive. well we got the motor in and i told him to add the oil and he started with the first qt and i noticed it was coming out like syrup. well i guess autozone by me don't carry the additive to brake in motors anymore and the guy behind the counter said all the race car guy for dirt track run Valvoline VR1 SAE50 Racing oil to brake in there engines. well i am a little nervous about this now that one qt of SAE50 which seems really think to be using as brake in oil and i just wanted some input on this before we proceed

 

Break in oil has a zinc additive. You can get the additive by itself. I'm not sure about havoline, nor would I go off of what other race guys do. Research a couple of companies. I use royal purple personally. You want to get this step right because it will make or break your motor.

 

Just use conventional oil for the break-in, plus the additive, because you're going to be changing the oil pretty much right away anyhow. After the 20 minute cam break-in, call it good until you are ready to run the car on the street. DO NOT break-in the engine in the garage beyond that point. For the sake of getting good ring to piston wall seating, you want the engine to be under a load which forces the rings against the cylinders. You won't get the same effect running it unloaded in the garage, unless you have it hooked to an engine dyno. Do the cam break-in, then take the car out for a run on the highway, alternating your speeds up and down. Make sure it's not a crowded highway while you're in a slower mode. Don't baby the engine, but don't beat the crap out of it either. Then take it home and change the oil since the initial run-in is going to produce the most amount of nasties that you don't want in there. 10w40 is fine to use, and I wouldn't be too concerned about the quart of 50w that's in there now.

 

Any of the Racing Oils will have enough zinc for the break in for a flat tappet cam. After the break in you can run the racing oil or switch to a 15-40 diesel oil or any oil with a CJ4 rating. If its a roller cam then any oil will work.

 

I used valvoine VR1 in mine, or just get the reg oil and get the zink additive