Heat Cycle

[Deye76]

Warm it up, then run it hard !!

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

.... and as much as some might think this won't work, this is exactly the procedure I used when I went from 88" to 95" with SE 203 cams on the 04th of March 2006 with 35,131 Km (21,820 miles) on the engine.

The bike now has 204,606 Km (127,084 miles) total miles on it, ....... 169,475 Km (105,263 miles) of those with 95" broken in using the Motoman Break-In Method, ...... it still runs great.

Now I'm not saying this is the only way to break in an engine, just pointing out that this method does work, regardless of what some folks think.

With the short riding year in Calgary, 17,000 miles a year, (thereabouts) is darn good. In order to do that, need a dependable bike.  Wonder if that method is OK for more radical builds?

[Deye76]

"hard decels"

Careful, not too hard with these current crank assy's. 

[Ken R]

Wonder why we never hear from anyone that works at The Factory, about how certain things are done.
With all the HTT members you would think someone would actually KNOW these things.

Don't know if it counts, but at the 100th, during a factory tour, I watched them make the parts and assemble the engine.  They started each engine at the end of the line and ran it while it was hooked to some test equipment.  I don't remember exactly, but don't think each got more than 5 minutes.  Just enough to check it out.  Then, they were crated for shipment to the other factories. 

My guess is that the motorcycle assembly plants start each one, too; for maybe 5 minutes. 

Then, the dealer gets 'em and their started again; at least once.  By the time we straddle for the first time, most have probably gone through a half dozen heat cycles (by default).   Then, their end-user break-in begins. 

Ken

[FLTRI]

Getting off the subject, but ring based , i service police cars GMH gen 4 motors 6 litre V 8s , all the police cars use oil during services , im talking a few litres , thats 2 litres in 10,000klm , they have done for all the yrs i have services them from the ol 5 litre to the 5.7 gen 3 ,yes they do use them hard from day one, and we are in the country here so lots of open roads as well as the inner streets,any ways looking at it in general terms they use far more oil that the normal gen 4 , same motor , no mods,cheers Barny

You failed to mention IMO the hardest abuse they go through. Idling for sometimes extended time. This is from day 1. At least here in Clifornia the cops never shut off their engine while on duty, even if they are parked for hours.  I would say if there is blame for oil usage it was from the idling rather than accellerating and decellerating.
Just a guess

[WideBoy04]

Thanks for all the input. Such a variety of techniques to do the
same thing boogles the mind. I also got advice from the Service
Manager that installed my big bore and heads along with some
from Todd of Revolution Cycle Performance who done my bore.
Temp is supposed to be 40 and dry Saturday should be a good
day to seat the rings and keep engine temp down. I'm going to
start with 3 heat cycles @ 1500 rpm's, around 30 seconds, 60
seconds, lastly 2 minutes. From what I gather this is to do the
inspections and allow the head gasket to seal? I'm going to try to
do two runs of about 10 miles each. 1st 2nd and 3rd gears on some
back roads near my house running up and down to 3000 rpm's for
about 10 miles. After a complete cool down, repeat. After that
ride normal up to 3000 rpm's with some burst up to 4000 for 500
miles. I'll probably try to put 500 more on it riding normal (for me
usually not over 4000 rpm's) before I hook up the trailer for trips.
I'm hoping this is good enough not to glaze the cylinders.

                                       Jim

[WideBoy04]

Forgot to mention that as cold as it is here I have the
oil in the house keeping it warm until I'm ready to fire it
up. Oil filter is dry and I want to build pressure as quick
as possible. Should the motor be turned over without the
sparkplugs first or just fire it up?

                              Thanks, Jim

[tdrglide]

I've only done a few of these but, I crank them over with the plugs out but grounded away from the plug holes. Crank it over till I have some oil pressure. You wont get much because the starter doesn't turn fast enough. Install plugs then fire it up and do your heat cycles and ride to your local tuner. Tell him how new the build is. Get a good tune as soon as possible

[WideBoy04]

This is a carb and had a dyno done before the big bore.
I might stick the 50 slow jet back in I took out. Maybe a
little rich will help keep things cool and not tend to burn
something while I'm seating the rings. It probably won't
see a dyno until I get a couple thousand on it.


                                  Jim

[Faast Ed]

Forgot to mention that as cold as it is here I have the
oil in the house keeping it warm until I'm ready to fire it
up. Oil filter is dry and I want to build pressure as quick
as possible. Should the motor be turned over without the
sparkplugs first or just fire it up?

                              Thanks, Jim

The Cold weather is great for break-in.

[GoFast.....]

I like the dyno for initial break in where it's in a controlled environment. I'm sure engines are run hard before leaving the factory at least some are and that's basically what happens on the dyno after a big bore upgrade. If the bottom end parts are new then I might be inclined to take it a little easier for the first 50-100 miles.

My brother sells big trucks, like in 18 wheeler and when a new truck gets delivered it gets hooked to a trailerand hits the road fully loaded 80,000lbs gross and full power. These motors run a million or more miles sometimes before overhaul.

New air cooled aircraft engines get full throttle on take off too and then varied at 75%-65% power for 25hrs till oil change time.
http://www.factoryengines.com/backup9_24/docs/TCM%20Engine%20Break-In%20Flight%20Tips.pdf

My 07 was taken on a 600 mile run for it's break in and we ran 70-90 and changed the oil when I got home.
It's never used any oil and has always has above average power for what it is.

Watch the temps and vary the speed with lots of full throttle bursts and hard decels is the way I'll continue to break mine in.

I ain't about to say what oil I use

I come from a truckin family and we overhauled our own engines and the blocks have cylinder liners in them that are twice as hard as a Harley cylinder.
When you overhaul a engine you do not bore a block you put new cylinder sleeves in it. A whole diffrent animal.

[PoorUB]

Wonder why we never hear from anyone that works at The Factory, about how certain things are done.
With all the HTT members you would think someone would actually KNOW these things.

Don't know if it counts, but at the 100th, during a factory tour, I watched them make the parts and assemble the engine.  They started each engine at the end of the line and ran it while it was hooked to some test equipment.  I don't remember exactly, but don't think each got more than 5 minutes.  Just enough to check it out.  Then, they were crated for shipment to the other factories. 

My guess is that the motorcycle assembly plants start each one, too; for maybe 5 minutes. 

Then, the dealer gets 'em and their started again; at least once.  By the time we straddle for the first time, most have probably gone through a half dozen heat cycles (by default).   Then, their end-user break-in begins. 

Ken

Pretty close to what really happens. The factory don't run the bike any longer than it takes to make sure it will make it to the dealer. My bet before the dealer gets the bike the engine has no more than a few minutes, like less than 10 minutes of run time. The dealer is responsable to make sure it is right.
I used to live where they build Arctic Cat snowmobiles. I went through a few tours over the years. At teh assembly line, each engine was test run before it was dropped in a sled. They had a test bench set up by the assembly line. The operator would pull an engine out of a crate, set it on a fixture, hook up fuel, Shove the clutch against a spinning car tire to crank the engine over. The engine would fire and run for 2-3 seconds before he would hit the kill switch and send it down the line. The engine would get screwed into a sled, then the sled boxed for shipment. If the engine did not start it was set aside and someone would check it over and send it back to the line.

[bouncingVman]

I have to think that they run the bike on a dyno for a few minutes at the factory... hope so anyway. I've never been to York or KC to see one put together.

PoorUB,

I think Arctic Cat use egines made by Suzuki. At least I know the older sleds had Suzuki engines. They probably have gone through some sort of QC at the Suzuki plant as well. May be run them for 4 more seconds before shipping them off to Thief River... who knows. LOL. It would be intersting to find out.

[harleytoprock]

When I had visited the York factory  assembly line back in the 80's I got to see at the end of the line when the bike was fired up. Gas was added to the tank , a temporary battery was hung from the side of the frame near the seat, and cables were clamped. The operator fired the bike, and rode it into a test chamber like he was stealing it. In the chamber, there were like dyno wheels built into the ground. The operator rode it on to the wheels and then blasted through the gears. While he was riding on the wheels and getting no where, he was looking at guages and readouts on the wall. My guess was he was doing about 60 miles an hour and it last about 5 minutes or so. There was no warm up time and the operator was not gentle on the throttle at all. At that time, I remember I was really surprised, as I had been from the old school of gentle break ins.

[FLTRI]

I've only done a few of these but, I crank them over with the plugs out but grounded away from the plug holes. Crank it over till I have some oil pressure. You wont get much because the starter doesn't turn fast enough. Install plugs then fire it up and do your heat cycles and ride to your local tuner. Tell him how new the build is. Get a good tune as soon as possible

From a tuner:  - Great advice, as running an engine out of tune (read: too lean or too rich) in places will do more harm than simply rinding the bike normally if it is in tune.

[WideBoy04]

Got the heat cycles done. 30 sec., 60 sec., then 2 min. No leaks
or any sounds to be concerned about, so far. Finished final assy.
Not in time to do a break in ride, was feeling a little slowish today.
What started out to be just some powder coat work turned into a
95" big bore, new 06 heads, chrome rocker boxes, powder coated
cam cover, trans end cover, trans top cover, lifter covers, and
primary cover. Its a disease I tell ya a disease. The porta
tank tip I got from another thread worked like a charm. Gonna
be in the 30's this week think I'll wait on the next 40's day..... Hey
I'm gettin old.

                                     Jim

                                   

[243ron]

You might as well ask about what's the best brand of oil to use; you'll get just as many answers. Lets not make rocket science out of this. Don't baby the machine, but don't beat the "Potty mouth" out of it either. VARY the RPM's. Been doing this for 40 years with no problems.

[FLTRI]

You might as well ask about what's the best brand of oil to use; you'll get just as many answers. Lets not make rocket science out of this. Don't baby the machine, but don't beat the "Potty mouth" out of it either. VARY the RPM's. Been doing this for 40 years with no problems.

[WideBoy04]

WOW 40 years, you must be one of the OFOPOS also.

                                       Thanks for all input, Jim