Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Breaking in the 261

So the time has finally come, and with spring break just a few weeks away I will have the time to drop in my 261 that I rebuilt last summer, and break that beast in, so the question is, what motor oil should I use to break this thing in with best success results? Should I use some Lucas oil additive also to keep things running smooth, what should I use to lube up the cam lobes to the lifters? I read that white grease is a bad idea, would that lucas stuff be a good cam and lifter lube? I am going to prime the heck out of it. I think I'm gonna break it in on the stock rochester just because its easy to work with, and then go to my offenhauser with the webers after the cam is broke in. Whats break in RPM? is it 2000 rpm for 20 minutes? and then let it cool down? just trying to get my ducks in a row.

I work at a hi-performance machine shop and dyno all their engines. I would recommend you break in the engine on Joe Gibbs or Brad Penn break-in oil for 20-30 minutes at 2000-2500 rpm. Then drive it with the break-in oil for about 200 miles. Then change to a good 10-30 synthetic oil and add a can/bottle of additive that contains a lot of zinc and phosphorus (ZDDP) such as GM's EOS, or ZDDPlus. Crane and Comp Cams also have the additive.

Ron

How often would you recommend changing the syntheric oil after the break in?

1. no prolonged cranking
2. don't let it idle

I dont think that I have ever seen gibbs break in oil or anything of the likes around here, I was just looking at standard like 10W-30, or straight 30W, I will more than likely use ZDDP to help get it broke in, should I use lucas oil additive as a lifter pushrod direct lube, and cam lobe and lifter direct lube, is this acceptable instead of some type of grease or something.

HI dbane 261 : You're on the right track -- If your motor was assembled some time ago and you used anything other than assembly paste/grease , it probably has leaked down and priming it will only " rinse " the rest of it away . DEFINITELY use a proper break-in oil ,prime it first and follow the proper procedures . Many good tips on the cam company web-sites . DO YOUR HOMEWORK !! I have a one-hour-old 250 with a lifter with no bottom in it . I wish I didn't have to speak from experience !! All the best -- FLEET / DON

yeah when they assembled it, they used that pretty popular red-oil/grease stuff that they always use on stuff like bearings and what have you, and yes it has been dripping. So I might just get crazy with lube on this thing to keep it protected but I am worried about the bearings mostly, the cam and lifters I can drench with cam lube and lucas additive-its pretty sticky and should hold on until oil can get there on initial break in, but the bearings trouble me, should just the priming be adequate to get oil to the bearings and prevent a bearing spin, because I don't want to risk opening up the caps on the rods or mains to re cake them with assembly lube.

Prime it while you rotate the engine by hand until you get oil to all the rockers. At that point the rods and mains will have plenty of oil.

Fleet 51 is right....do your homework. That's easier and less expensive than just hopeing for the best and coming away with a flat cam.

Lubricate everything with the correct lube, prime the hell out of it, set the timing close before you try to start it and don't let the rpm get below 2000 for the first 20-30 minutes.

Call the tech line at any oil company and go by their recommendations. They will be glad to talk to you.

Ron

dbane,

Great to hear that your 261 is about to run. I put my first 261 together in August of 1958 and just used Valvoline 20w-20 and had no problems. My most recent 261 (bored to 278) build went together in 2007 with EOS and Joe Gibbs break-in oil.

If you can't find the oils Ron named, I use Chevron Delo 400 in 15W40 with a ZDDP adative (I used Crane's as it's waht was available). I would prefer the 'good stuff' Ron mentioned, but I needed to break mine in (plow truck engine) before it could get here.

I just swithced it to Moble 1 10W30 with a botlle of STP (it has ZDDP too, and I couldn't find any EOS at the local dealers).

Oh, I'm assuming (yeah, I know) for the momnet you have it set up for full flow filtration. Stay away from Fram. As best I can tell I had to do an emergency overahul on my plow truck because it had the cam go flat and the Fram oil filter didn't catch the metal.

Don't mis-understand, I haven't got anything that would stand up in court, so this is my opinion, but now you have it.

Remember there is enough zinc in a $3 bottle of STP to treat 4-5 quarts of oil according to their customer service people.

Agreed 100% just slice a fram filter open and see for your self.. its a pile of c@@p.

A engine builder buddy ran a 700HP SBC on the dyno to break the engine in and tune it. Came time after 1/2 hour to change the oil filter - he had forgot his replacement GM filter at home. Screwed a fram filter on and and lost 15HP! Put the GM filter back on power came back.

When I was working at Car Quest we had one of those oil filter displays that had several filters cut in half. We didn't think anything could be as cheesy as the Fram. So, I bought one and we hacked it in two. It was! Car Quest and Napa are Wix. Unfortunately, Fram is the main brand where I work now. The Tough Guard and High Mileage grades are better. I try to be helpful to the customers.

Ok well I just got back from the parts store, and it looks like I'm gonna have to settle for standard conventional oils, would 10W-40 be a good break in oil? Next problem is the camshaft lube, they have RedLine cam lube that is of the pink-ish color, and it brush on, I've seen some shops use this-and then they have this large black squeeze tube of grease that says it has moly-graphite in it, and its got quite a lot of grease in it, I am going to dunk the lifters in Lucas when I drop them in, but I am really fretting over the cam lube, RedLine-that costs a fortune, or this assembly grease that has moly graphite in it, what ya think gentlemen for a good oil weight for break in, and which of these lubes?

I recently got some Red Line 'Engine Assembly Paste' and it worked well (kinda purple).

If you have a source for Permatex, they sell a product called 'Ultra Slick' it's a red honey like liquid, if you were going to fire the engeine shortly after assembly that would be my (lower cost) choice, as I have had good luck with it in the past.

I tend to stay away from the Moly Greases as the Lithium lubes don't tend to clog the oil filter.

However if it was all I could afford and I was going to assemble the engine quite a while before I started it I would likely use it and change the filter immediately after the cam run in.

As for oil, I've been using 15-40 of late (DELO 400 + an adative) but that's me.

I prime the oil system immediately before starting and pre fill the float bowl.

Hope that helps and good luck.

cool and thanks for the reply, yeah I am going to lube the cam and lifters and then expect to fire it immediately after this, so I will most likely go with the redline-might as well, I guess I'll use 10W-40 or 15W-40 depending on how the weather looks that day warm wise. So the red line synthetic Lithium grease clog up my oil filter? I will also use the Lucas to dip the lifters in, double up the protection. I will prime the heck out of it, should I prime the oil pump for like a couple minutes till the oil hits the rockers? Anyone got any intel on this dual oil filter deal that summit offers?

Summit offers a couple of dual filters, neither of which should be necessary on initial start.

As I understand it the Lithum won't clog the filter, supposedly not all of the molly will either, but you have to search those out (the ones that won't, I haven't).

FWIW I change the filter on a 'street' engine after a couple hundred mile or 20 hrs, whichever comes first.

On a 'race' or really hot street engine I will change the filter after the cam break in cycle (assuming flat tappet here) and cut the filter open to look for P/Ns (hopefully no pieces that big).

If roller, I do the same after initial firing / run in.

If I'm feeling paranoid I'll do the same on a street engine.

Well I just got done talking to Patrick's Antiques-what a bunch of good guys, I think he likes to talk as much as I do, He told me that I should use 20W-50 valvoline VR1 racing oil becasue it still has the manganese and zinc in it that delo and other oils used to, this seems like a very heavy weight for a break in, but hey hes done this more than I have, sound ok to everyone? He also told me to use a bottle of ZDDP and pour in on the cam and the bottom of the lifters after I cam lube it with red line brush on.