Oil consumption after complete rebuild

[greg]

What should be oil consumption after rebuild. Regular rebuild with hastings oil rings. Using 10w-40 valvoline. first 350 miles used about 1/5 quart.
Should it improve after first 1000 miles ?
I will change oil to 20w-50 and retorque head after first 750 miles.

Thx

[ghnl]

1/5 of a qt in 350 miles seems good. That'd be about 1750 miles/qt.

How are you 'breaking in' the rings? There is some controversy about the best method. Conventional wisdom says drive it easy for a while. Then there is the flog it method. Break in secrets

[greg]

I'm going easy to at most 3700 rpm. only once slipped and went 95 mph at 5000 rpm

[mikeori]

your consumption seems to be pretty good. I've rebuilt several engines (not alfa), and
have always believed that you want to seat the rings in the bores by placing a load on
the engine - best method seems to be to accelerate at full throttle from 30 to 50 mph
and do it repeatedly. hope this helps

[sgtpeper]

I too break in engines the hard way. I cant remember where but theres a great article on how to break in an engine hard - the RIGHT way.

Either way have fun!

[ghnl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgtpeper I cant remember where but theres a great article on how to break in an engine hard...

[sgtpeper]

Haha yea thats the one...

I broke my STi in pretty hard. Most people with STis burn oil - I dont, so theres something to be said for a good hard break in.

Jeff

[wutdhec]

Any thoughts on whether its better to warm up the car or not before driving?

I've heard that on 911 SCs its actually best to skip warm up in the garage and just keep RPMs below 3000 until the engine is warmed up...

[sgtpeper]

Thats interesting. I always warm my car up fully before really pounding on it. I have an oil temp gauge and I wont get into boost until its at 180 degrees.

Jeff

[Gary Williams]

For future reference, here's the link to the Hastings "how-to" page: Untitled Document .

[vf31rhill]

Most successful rings for replacement regardless of piston make are Grant. They seat successfully about 100% of the time. When I was wrenching professionally I always used Grant rings even if it meant discarding the rings supplied with the new pistons. Wasteful, but beats having to deal repeatedly with customer unhappy with oil consumption/blue-black exhaust after spending major $$ on a complete engine rebuild. I understood that eventually the rings would seat and last a long time, but irate customers are not known for their understanding.
Robert Hill

[Russ Bellinis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wutdhec Any thoughts on whether its better to warm up the car or not before driving? I've heard that on 911 SCs its actually best to skip warm up in the garage and just keep RPMs below 3000 until the engine is warmed up...