[alfa] Re: Rebuilt Alfetta Engine Officially Broken In

[TJCallahan@xxxxxxx]

Yup, guilty as charged. Mr. "Gonna-break-it-in-slowly" went and got all 
excited prematurely. Kinda happens around tarts and first times and all, or so I'm 
told. It's never happened to *me* before ...

Truth be told, I did have several hundred miles on the engine before the 
tour. And, in accordance with my break in plan, I had varied the engine speeds and 
loads and kept the revs down below 4k for those first 400 or so miles. I had 
hoped to get more mileage on it before the tour, but that didn't work out. I 
made a conscious decision to run with the big dogs this time - a calculated 
risk.

The 6k times were transient, we'd wind up to 6k and then drop to 4 or 5 for 
the corners and back to 6k (and a shift) in the straighter sections. The tach 
was moving up and down all the time. There were times when 3-4k and a light 
throttle was the appropriate thing. There were times when WOT was the thing. 
There were a couple of corners where first gear, 3k, and a lot of brakes was 
appropriate - the rev limiter sang on those.

The tour happened in segments, too. We'd run hard for a little while and then 
wait for all to regroup at a stop. Then we were off again. The engine was 
given a "cool down lap" equivalent at these times and then shut down to avoid 
extended idling.

I think the engine will be OK, there's no sign of immediate damage and the 
rebuild was top quality all the way (machining and parts). The minor inspection 
we did (to tighten the flywheel bolts) showed everything looking beautiful, no 
signs of trouble spots. 

In any case, it was a blast and I don't regret a thing. Time will tell how 
long the rebuild will last, it *will* have to be redone sometime. Maybe that's 
in 50k miles, maybe in 100k miles. Who knows.

In the mean time, I'm gonna enjoy mine and trust that y'all will enjoy yours.

I do appreciate all the help and discussion from this group, the rebuild 
wouldn't have been as thorough or fun without it. Come see the tart in '05, she'll 
still be running strong I'll wager.

Tom
Seattle (less rainy, still beautiful)
6310123
7711615
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