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Engine Break IN

paul1969cars

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Just rebuild 1969 440 engine. Stock Setup.
I understand that zinc should be in oil for break-in period and possibly longer.

I purchased Castrol GTX SEA 10w-40 Oil

Does this have zinc in it? Doesn state on bottle. And if it does is it enough for break in?

If not i did purchase Lucas Zinc additive. Would it hurt to add this additive anyway? Its says one bottle of additive per oil change.

Thanks
 

Xcudame

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I'm assuming you meant Castrol GTX "SAE" 10w-40. Regardless, it doesn't appear to have extra zinc and phosphorous. It would have some kind of warning like "Not for use on some pollution controlled vehicles". But all this doesn't matter as you have the additive and you can add it to the Castrol GTX and be good. You did use the special camshaft lube on the camshaft lines and lifter bottoms on assembly, right? The absolute main thing is the engine starts up quickly, no excessive cranking! Best of luck my brother! It's going to be a nice restoration!
 

paul1969cars

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Here are some updates on my b body.

IMG_1443.jpg


IMG_1444.jpg
 

pschlosser

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If you're going for an ideal, you'll want to use a break-in oil, with the zinc already blended into the oil.

Some sources suggest adding the zinc (such as ZDDP additive) to standard motor oil does not protect the camshaft on initial startup as well as the pre-blended (with zinc) break-in oils.

This is because the zinc additive and standard oil mix, more or less, only after the oil has been heated by the operating engine and the oil "stirred" by several cycles through the oil pump.

Break-in oils are heated and blended prior to bottling. Vintage motor oils contained more zinc, lead and cadmium than the healthier, more environmentally-friendly motor oils do modern-day. I believe it's generally accepted the synthetic oils modern-day contain very little of these lubricating heavy metals.

The zinc (and those vintage heavy metals) benefit the camshaft and lifters best during initial startup. You want that zinc doings its best to bond with those surfaces, lubricate and minimize wear on the first few revolutions of that initial engine startup and break-in.

By the time a ZDDP additive is sufficiently blended to provide ample zinc to the lifters and camshaft, some minor wear (that may have been avoided with a pre-blend) has already occurred.

Presuming this is all true, I'm not sure it really matters. Breaking in an engine involves, more or less, wear on the engine. Wear to hone and fine-tune microscopic roughness into smoother operating surfaces on the rings, cylinder walls, bearings, lifters and all rotating and moving surfaces.

Gosh, I seem to recall several stories from days past of breaking in engines by starting them up, and immediately running some quarter mile runs to "seat the rings" without much concern for scored camshafts, failing lifters or placing too much wear on bearing surfaces.
 
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6PKRTSE

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Pn my new hyd. F.t. camshaft builds. I use Comp Cams, Lucas or other break in lube with any conventional 10W30 oil and also break in the cam with outer valve springs only for initial fire up. Once broke in I add the inner springs in.
 

Challenger RTA

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This is what should be done before firing any engine up or that was sitting for a long time. Turn over by hand to find the two locations on the cam to feed oil to the rockers.

There two different locations on the cam to get oil to the passenger rockers and driver side rockers. Rotate crank until you find one then the other.
 
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