How soon is too soon?!
 

Hey guys!

Well still just sitting here waiting for 3/3 to come for the delivery of the new Z! While I'm dreaming about it, I started to wonder two things:

Is there really a break in period on these things? As in should I keep it under a certain rpm for a certain amount of miles and ease her in? I REALLY want to get on her a bit day 1 just out of pure excitement but can hold back if I need to!

Second, how long do people wait before putting FI on the Z and void out the warranty? I wanted to give that cushion to make sure there are no manufacturer defects of course that I typically would be able to bring her right in to get fixed. Whereas the second that turbo hits the motor that's not longer an option. I had a 2009 GTM TT and want to go AAM sooner rather than later! Thanks guys! Can't wait to be a part of the family again!

I believe per the instructions there is a 1,500 mile break in but really who follows that? I started running the RPMs around 600 miles and going to redline by 1,000.

Also, I slapped on a GTM stage 1 SC kit at 19,000 miles and am now at 90,000 miles.
Warranty is 50-50, if you have a good dealership you are good with they will still honor parts of the warranty. Say a window motor goes they should replace it under warranty, but say you blow your clutch out then that is a tough call. Some will help out, maybe try to claim CSC failure and cover it or cover a portion, while others will just tell you to pay them to fix it.

Owners manual states keep rpms below 4000 for 1,200 miles.

Don't use cruise control during that time period and make sure you vary gears if on extended trips at the same speed. Also no hard braking for the first 200 miles.

As for FI. I would wait until the motor is properly broken in and wear metals start to drop off in your oil sample. Send all your oil changes to Black Stone and when they report the motor is at normal wear metals add boost.

Nice thanks for the info guys! The guy who will be working on the car mentions first oil change. That way they can do those samples and by then she should be good to go. Also doing some down shift/engine braking instead of using the brakes. Nothing ferocious just giving her a little pressure here and there. Heard stay off the freeways as much as you can at first to keep shifting through those gears so nice to hear a lot of the same that you just advised.

Damnitt next oil change seems like a long time! Whatever, more exuse to drive her around everywhere instead of sitting in the garage ;):driving:

Not gonna lie when I was at 200 miles I went from Houston to Austin a couple times in a month, varies speeds, gears, etc to just add miles. Had friends in Austin to visit and was nice, but was a good excuse to get some miles on the car.

I did circles around 610 and the beltway :tup:

I kept mine below 4kRPM during the first 1,500 miles. But that's just me.

I drove mine like I stole it as soon as I pulled out of the dealership.

My new Mustang has less than 500 miles on it and a Whipple 2.9 is on the way! I will probably install it with my first oil change.

I put a supercharger in at 11k. I don't know the specifics but consider your warranty void. Just enjoy the car! :)

Like your line of thinking. I may follow that. Just in case :) she is part of the family! Gotta treat her right!

Same here, boosted it at about ~8k miles on the clock.
1 year, another 8k miles, over 600hp/550hp, driving it like a madman....it's perfectly fine (my engine).

I bought my car with 2 miles on it...has never given me an issue yet! Nissan did a few things right on this one :driving:

With most modern engines, the break-in period is less than 1000 miles. During that period you want to take it a little easy - don't baby it but don't push it real hard very often. As others have mentioned, varying the speed/load will help.

Monitoring the oil, as per jwick, is the best way to tell the condition of the engine. For many people this is overkill but you sound like you are picky enough that it would give you some peace of mind.

As mentioned above, the brakes need a little breaking in, too.

Have fun!

Oddly enough my best oil sample to date came after my first post-turbo oil change. Blackstone even commented that the car must love the extra power:driving:

no break-in on my engine and started tracking it right away. Now at 23k with about 17-18k on track and no issues, plus one of the highest hp NA motors on the forum at 342 rwhp. Break it in like you are going to drive it.

I strictly followed the break-in period instructions when I bought my Z new....when they replaced the engine under warranty at 40K miles I strictly followed them again.

I think this thread has all the evidence we need as to the value of the "proper" break in procedure :rofl2:

I've heard both sides of the story, break in the way you drive/thank the kid at the dealer who did a burn out in your car... Then I speak to the engineers at work... They say 90+% of the break in is done in the first few strokes of the engine being on and within a few miles of the car being driven. BUT they all baby their cars as well, some say in case a bigger piece of metal flies off at 6k RPMs the oil may not have the chance to prevent it from getting sucked into something.

They all said a few oil changes should be done very quickly.

Personally, I'd say break it in properly. You just spent $30-50k on the car, why not spend some time breaking it in? And I'd do an oil change after like 100 miles, then keep driving slow to about 1000 and do another oil change.

When I bought my Z, it had like 6 miles on it... so it was broken in before I got to it. I think my mustang had 12... thats more than broken in.

The only reason I do not go immediate full throttle on a fresh fully built engine is for the sake of debris and contaminants in the oil. The filter will catch them, but that is only after they have made their way back to the pan and through the pump again. For a factory "new" car with a couple miles on it, whatever happened before I got it is out of my control so its ready to drive hard as far as I am concerned. For a fresh build that I did myself, I get the engine up to operating temp off idle and bleed the cooling system, then I change the oil. Just because a shop/home/DIY/etc engine build is going to introduce more contamination during assembly than a factory build.

Drive it like you stole it. If and when it breaks it's still under warranty. :eekdance: