Same story. Troy said three changes on full mineral oil, or a blend would be fine, with the zinc additive (like from Lucas). Perform at roughly 500 miles, 800 miles and 1,000 miles. Then full synthetic is fine. The issue is apparently synthetic, while objectively superior for shearing and heat tolerance, doesn't cling to metal surfaces at all the same as mineral oil. Or at least that's what I understood.

He said the three things that f up rings sealing properly are trying to do it on full synthetic, running boost before they're set, and of course overheating.

They do make full synthetic break in oil. Also watch out because high zinc oils will kill your cats very quickly.

I think that is a major reason they got away from it as a common additive. I'm only going to run it for the first few oil changes, less than 2,000 miles, and unless it gets a bunch of oil in the combustion for some reason (which it really shouldn't) not much if any zinc should make it to the cats.

I run diesel oil in the mustang and the cats are fine.

Should have it back by Saturday. As always, just little gotchas.

The Energy Suspension poly engine mounts slightly relocate the engine and the DS no longer reaches, so I'll have to go back to the OE mounts.

Changed the AC bracket to a non-rednuck POS, OE looking Holly unit. Unfortunately, this means running down another belt.

Head cross-over pipe gasket, a dealer only item that had to be ordered.

But really, just about there.

The Luk Pro Gold clutch (supposedly LS7 OE+) is way-the-fuck beefier than the McLeod single plate street performance clutch. Also, the FW is a kind of lightened cast piece instead of aluminum. At first I was slightly butt hurt about this, but in reality I'm not doing any road racing where spinning up absolutely fast as possible is the goal. The heavier FW actually should help with street manners, namely getting away from a light; slightly less likely to bog off idle because of the rotational inertia while the clutching is engaging.

Your build thread sucks, there are no pictures.

Here is an engine. It has pistons and things. :p

This shows the top of the new Mahle "dished" pistons. The reliefs are huge.



Can't really see here but, I did go with H-beam forged rods. I think RPM was the manufacturer.



In the past I had farted around with the idea of changing the reluctor, but I kept it stock for the era.



Just kind of like this pic.



Getting ready to load up.



Loaded up.



More pics in vehicle album.

http://motorgen.com/pic/showgallery.php/cat/527

RPM makes good shit. I'm running their rods, and fly wheel.

Fired right up, no problems. I pick her up tonight.

Question:
Other than oil changes and zinc additive for the first few rounds, do I need to be particularly concerned with how I drive while the rings are setting? FPS said other than normal considerations of making sure it's up to temp, and maybe not road racing, it's fine to get on it a little bit. Very specific break in procedures are more necessary for solid roller setups, but hydraulic not so much.

Yes, fucking rag on it. Every motor I build gets the initial start up, 2k rpm hold till operating temp. Shut down, check over, start back up, full rpm range revs (this is the time where I do a massive burnout and a few WOT runs)If you don't have the same train of thought, Few half throttle runs then a few WOT runs should do it. Basically stay away from extended consistent RPM at any range (including idle) and you're good to go. Then change oil.