Just passed 500 engine rebuilds and realized I've been wrong about break-in procedures

I hit 500 rebuilds last Thursday on a 350 Chevy for a customer in Wichita. Everyone says to vary the RPM and avoid highway driving for the first 500 miles. But after keeping records on all my builds, the ones that got hammered on right away actually had better ring seal and fewer oil consumption issues. The easy-driven ones burned more oil at 50,000 miles. Why are we still telling people to baby their fresh engines? Has anyone else seen this pattern or am I the only one?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_mitchell81d ago

Huh, funny how that works. Kinda reminds me of how people coddle new phones or batteries when really just using them normally from day one seems to work out fine. Might be one of those old wives' tales that refuses to die.

coleman.christopher1d ago

...and honestly that tracks with a lot of stuff people just accept without questioning. Ngl I've noticed the same pattern with breaking in new tires, people say take it easy for 100 miles but I've seen guys who drive aggressive right off the lot and their tires wear even and last longer. Tbh it's like how everyone tells you to warm up your car in the winter before driving but modern engines don't need it, just old habits that won't die. We got this whole culture of being scared to use stuff hard right out of the gate when really most things are made to handle it from the start.