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The engine is actually a 1990 model engine. Long story behind it, and I do have the history on it, but the engine was swapped some time before I owned the car.
Glad your car is back. Why so long on the rebuild? Three months seems a bit excessive---did a shop in NJ do the work on it?
Well, in all fairness, the actual work didn't take that long. Some of it was my fault because I was trying to decide whether to go with a used engine or rebuild mine. Lost a couple of weeks there. In addition, Buckley racing usually has a backlog of cars waiting for his attention. So my car had to patiently wait for its turn in the rotation. He is in high demand. I could have taken it to someone that could do it sooner, but I was sold on his reputation after talking with several people that had engines built by him. Nothing but positive reviews. So I was willing to wait.
Another delay was on the crankshaft. My crankshaft was scored pretty badly on one rod journal where it spun the bearing. We spent some time looking into various used cranks, but ultimately opted to have mine rebuilt because most of the used ones we found needed some work too. The crank vendor that rebuilt my crank was backlogged also which cost a few more weeks delay.
Looks great! What type of break-in did the builder specify? Are you doing it with dino or synthetic?
The first 50 miles were done on one type of break in oil (I believe it was dino). The engine builder himself did the first 50 break-in miles on this oil and then changed it out for Swepco 306 which is what he delivered it to me with. The Swepco will stay in it for about 1000 miles for completion of break-in at which point it'll go back to Buckley Racing for a checkup and oil change. He'll double check valve clearances, etc.
During the break in, I am not supposed to keep it steady at any one rpm. Vary the engine speed, accelerate, decelerate, etc. I'm not supposed to exceed 5K rpms for the first few hundred miles. Then I can start going up to 6K rpms from about 500 miles. But the important thing is not to run it at a steady rpm for any period. Continue to vary it throughout the break-in. He told me that I could drive it on the track to break it in if I have the opportunity, just watch the rpms. Don't flog it.
Perfect, it should be broken in by Sebring, I will even cover the R&I both ways.
I can't wait to see how a car runs with some sack.
I guess I better make sure it stays locked up safely in my garage between now and Sebring! 'Honey, where is my engine???'... 'Oh, yeah. Steve borrowed it for the weekend. He said that you said it was ok...'
The RSA looks great! You surely have the most pristine 964 engine bay on the continent right now. Glad you have it back in plenty of time for the ’08 track season!