Originally Posted by samb03

new engines are dynoed and rings seated in the factory.then they chasis dyno every car to check the trans. It isn't like the old days. I can't say i would bounce it off the limiter and just hold high revs just for the sake of it.

My childhood friend's father was a shade tree mechanic and a good one. When he built a motor he would break in the cam per the manufacture instructions. drain the water and run it for a couple minutes to get the block hot and seat the rings. Let the engine cool down add coolant (the block could crack if you cool it down fast). then "test drive" it. burn outs, 10 mile high speed run, doughnuts, basicly burn 5 gallons of gas as fast as possible. His motors last for a very long time. the 454 had 300K on it when his wife took it in the divorce. I feel sorry for whoever bought cause he poured 3 pounds of sugar in the oil

I think the real secret is frequent oil changes in the beginning. On motors from scratch I break in the cam, change oil, 100-500 miles, change oil, 1000-1500, change oil,3000 mi change oil, then every 3K after than. On a new on def change around 1500. then 3000 after that.