Break in period for almuninum heads

mustangramair

Member
Feb 24, 2004
326
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17
Iowa
I just put Trick Flow heads and cam in. I know they say to drive 2-4 hours before getting on the car hard. I have put 2 hours on the heads and have not gotten on the car. I was wondering how long you guys with alum heads waited before pushing your car. What is the reason behind this, is it so the valves seat correctly, or is it to make sure the heads don't warp? Thanks guys, Nick
 
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The only way your heads might warp is if you get the car overheated.

I didn't need to retighten any of my head bolts...I didn't "break-in" my heads...but rather looked at it like I was being easy on the car to just make sure everything was running okay. I would say after 1-200 miles and another oil change and you see no problems or leaks, your good to go:nice:
 
Thanks alot guys, i didn't really get why i had to break them in. I was just following Trick Flow's instruction book. It is however leaking coolant and oil i noticed before i came back up to school. I will look again when i get back. I suspect it is leaking out the front of the oil pan and the timing chain cover. The coolant i think might be coming out of the water pump so i will have to tighten thost bolts again. Thanks guys, Nick
 
nosmatt said:
???

after i check for water leaks, beat the hell out of it.

wait, well, make sure its not lean first :)
I don't think it is lean because it is running a little rich. Is there any advice you guys could give me on "tuning" the car without taking it to a dyno shop?
 
DMAN302 said:
Good start spot is 40PSi and 14* timing...should be best (on the assumption your running 24LB injectors)..if 19's try 42-44 psi, and still 14* timing.
Thanks alot, yeah i am running 24# injectors. I will do that when i get home and see how it runs.
 
Hey Nick (mustangramair), would you quote what the instructions said...I'm just curious to see what it said exactly for the "break-in". Now I could see the valvetrain (which "connects" to the cam) would be a break-in issue. It is good to go thru a warm cycle or two to see if you got leaks or problems. Just as you have noticed with the leaks.

I have my timing at 16* at 39psi with 30lb injectors. I think with your 24lb injectors the 40psi (vaccum off) is a good place to keep it. Bump your timing up 2* at a time and see how it reacts. You will need to run a higher octane to take advantage of the advanced timing so you do not ping.

Go from 12,14,16,18* and see where it acts better... :nice:

About nosMatt's comment on being lean it was kind of inside joke I believe because I think he had some car trouble with one of his car's by going lean. If your at 40psi (vaccum off) and your fuel pressure is up to par you won't be going lean...probably just about right.

What are your plugs gapped at? I would try Autolite 3924's gapped at .045 or the equivalent.

Good Luck man:nice:
 
5spd GT said:
Hey Nick (mustangramair), would you quote what the instructions said...I'm just curious to see what it said exactly for the "break-in". Now I could see the valvetrain (which "connects" to the cam) would be a break-in issue. It is good to go thru a warm cycle or two to see if you got leaks or problems. Just as you have noticed with the leaks.

I have my timing at 16* at 39psi with 30lb injectors. I think with your 24lb injectors the 40psi (vaccum off) is a good place to keep it. Bump your timing up 2* at a time and see how it reacts. You will need to run a higher octane to take advantage of the advanced timing so you do not ping.

Go from 12,14,16,18* and see where it acts better... :nice:

About nosMatt's comment on being lean it was kind of inside joke I believe because I think he had some car trouble with one of his car's by going lean. If your at 40psi (vaccum off) and your fuel pressure is up to par you won't be going lean...probably just about right.

What are your plugs gapped at? I would try Autolite 3924's gapped at .045 or the equivalent.

Good Luck man:nice:

What exactly do you mean by vaccum off? Do you mean the vaccum line that goes to the regulator? I don't have the packet of papers that Trick Flow sent with the heads, i am up at school so they are an hour away. All i can really remember is that they said for normal wear allow a 2-4 hour break in period before driving hard. I think it did say something about valvetrain wear though.I will play with they timing when finals are over and i am back home to see where it runs the best. I don't know what the plugs are gapped at, i was thinking of changing them out though. I haven't heard good things about Bosch plugs. Thanks for all the info :nice:
 
mustangramair said:
What exactly do you mean by vaccum off? Do you mean the vaccum line that goes to the regulator? I don't have the packet of papers that Trick Flow sent with the heads, i am up at school so they are an hour away. All i can really remember is that they said for normal wear allow a 2-4 hour break in period before driving hard. I think it did say something about valvetrain wear though.I will play with they timing when finals are over and i am back home to see where it runs the best. I don't know what the plugs are gapped at, i was thinking of changing them out though. I haven't heard good things about Bosch plugs. Thanks for all the info :nice:

I'm sorry Nick I should have been more clear:bang:

When I say vaccum line off...you want to set your Fuel Pressure with the red vaccum line off that goes to the fuel pressure regulator. You simply just pull it off the regulator end of the regulator while the car is idling. I would do it when the car is warm and put your finger or a piece of tape over the vaccum line while you set the pressure. Turning the stud (on a Kirban) clockwise will bump the pressure up and turning it counterclockwise will turn the pressure down. Make sure (if you have one like on the Kirban) to tighten the little nut that is surrounding the stud to hold the pressure setting in place. Vibrations can loosen it if your not careful. Then replug the line back on and your good to go. If you have a guage you will notice the pressure will drop when you put the line back on...probably around 35psi...

Yeah get some Autolite 3924's (Wal-mart carries them...:nice:)...gap them at .045...but if your not getting any kind of miss...I wouldn't worry about it. I would put antiseize on your sparkplug threads when you put new ones in so you don't get them gauled up in there when and if you ever have to remove them...

I think Trickflow's instructions are there as a disclaimer to help TW out where if something goes wrong they could blame it on your "break-in"...I think their "break-in" is just a "checking time"...nothing more.

Your doing the right thing :nice:

Hows your finals going? I have one more to go :banana:
 
5spd GT said:
I'm sorry Nick I should have been more clear:bang:

When I say vaccum line off...you want to set your Fuel Pressure with the red vaccum line off that goes to the fuel pressure regulator. You simply just pull it off the regulator end of the regulator while the car is idling. I would do it when the car is warm and put your finger or a piece of tape over the vaccum line while you set the pressure. Turning the stud (on a Kirban) clockwise will bump the pressure up and turning it counterclockwise will turn the pressure down. Make sure (if you have one like on the Kirban) to tighten the little nut that is surrounding the stud to hold the pressure setting in place. Vibrations can loosen it if your not careful. Then replug the line back on and your good to go. If you have a guage you will notice the pressure will drop when you put the line back on...probably around 35psi...

Yeah get some Autolite 3924's (Wal-mart carries them...:nice:)...gap them at .045...but if your not getting any kind of miss...I wouldn't worry about it. I would put antiseize on your sparkplug threads when you put new ones in so you don't get them gauled up in there when and if you ever have to remove them...

I think Trickflow's instructions are there as a disclaimer to help TW out where if something goes wrong they could blame it on your "break-in"...I think their "break-in" is just a "checking time"...nothing more.

Your doing the right thing :nice:

Hows your finals going? I have one more to go :banana:

I have a BBK regulator and a guage. So when i set the pressure to 40 with the vaccum off it will drop to 35 with the vaccum on? Also Trick Flow said not to use antiseeze in their instructions in BOLD PRINT, so i didn't. You're lucky you only have on left, ours are next week but i got lucky and had 1 today. I have 3 next tuesday then i will be done :banana: I have a spanish presentation in 1 hour :notnice: I can't wait to play with the car again. How did your finals go?
 
mustangramair said:
I have a BBK regulator and a guage. So when i set the pressure to 40 with the vaccum off it will drop to 35 with the vaccum on? Also Trick Flow said not to use antiseeze in their instructions in BOLD PRINT, so i didn't. You're lucky you only have on left, ours are next week but i got lucky and had 1 today. I have 3 next tuesday then i will be done :banana: I have a spanish presentation in 1 hour :notnice: I can't wait to play with the car again. How did your finals go?

I'm sure the regulator is set up the same way...and yeah when you set the pressure to 40psi and then you connect the vaccum line back on you will see it drop down to around 35psi (give or take a couple psi)...because all cars are different and you have a different cam than me which effects engine vaccum as well.

Well on the Trickflow instructions was that for installing head bolts/studs/etc...because anything other than that like on the intake bolts going into the head and spark plug threads antiseize should be used for all I know:shrug: I have always known that to be the case...maybe the instruction part you read was for the head bolts and studs???

Well my Accounting final got canceled (the professor's husband is bad sick :( )...and my Database Managment class went alright today and then I just got a couple more elective typ classes to take the final in so I'm not worried about them to much... :nice:
 
5spd GT said:
I'm sure the regulator is set up the same way...and yeah when you set the pressure to 40psi and then you connect the vaccum line back on you will see it drop down to around 35psi (give or take a couple psi)...because all cars are different and you have a different cam than me which effects engine vaccum as well.

Well on the Trickflow instructions was that for installing head bolts/studs/etc...because anything other than that like on the intake bolts going into the head and spark plug threads antiseize should be used for all I know:shrug: I have always known that to be the case...maybe the instruction part you read was for the head bolts and studs???

Well my Accounting final got canceled (the professor's husband is bad sick :( )...and my Database Managment class went alright today and then I just got a couple more elective typ classes to take the final in so I'm not worried about them to much... :nice:

I am almost positive that it said not to use the anitseize on the spark plugs because we were going to then i looked at the instructions and stopped. I will double check though

I am still alittle confused on the vaccum. So i set it to 40 with it off, then when put it back on it will drop. So then do i turn i back up to 40 once the vaccum is on or is it actually at 40 just reading alittle lower?

Too bad about the professor's husband. I wish my finals were almost done :nice:
 
Yeah it will seem confusing...but once you put that vaccum line back on you leave it at that. I was just saying you will notice that the FP will drop on the guage when you do it.

You just set the FP with the vacuum line off and then put the line back on and your done. No need to adjust another time...

The reason why you pull the vaccum line off in the first place is to simulate wide open throttle fuel pressure I believe:shrug:

Just set it with the line off and then put the line back on and your done with the fuel pressure:nice:
 
5spd GT said:
Yeah it will seem confusing...but once you put that vaccum line back on you leave it at that. I was just saying you will notice that the FP will drop on the guage when you do it.

You just set the FP with the vacuum line off and then put the line back on and your done. No need to adjust another time...

The reason why you pull the vaccum line off in the first place is to simulate wide open throttle fuel pressure I believe:shrug:

Just set it with the line off and then put the line back on and your done with the fuel pressure:nice:
Cool, thanks for the explanation! It makes more sense now.