breaking in a new car

[shitty67]

Hopefully this is not that dumb of a question, I'm just getting done putting together my car, Its a 71 nova with a new 406 new turbo 350 and a mopar 8 3/4 rear with 4.56s (I know a mopar rear). My question is how do you safely break in the car at the track? its not a street car so I won't be able to see how it drives, stops or turns. The car has a cage and harnesses. The motor is new and should have about 475 rear wheel horsepower and the trans is a new rebuild. As you can probably tell I'm new at this so any help is greatly appreciated. Mark.

[K*A*B]

deffinetly not a dumb question
just cruise around the pit a little bit and check over everything , make sure its not leaking anything , all of your steering and suspension components are tight
if all seems good , make an easy drive down the track
just pay attention to whats going on with the car
its better to take a couple easy passes and find something wrong and fix it , then have something wrong on a real pass and risk you and your car
don't get caught up in trying to cut a light and go fast , make sure the car goes straight first

[Gameracing]

Ditto on what KAB said, try to find a place where you can get it up to 20-30 mph, and stab the brake pedal, make sure it doesn't dive to one side, make sure the front brakes lock up first, also no front end shimmy. Then go make an easy pass, keep the rpms down a little, keep the mph down till your sure everythings ok, good luck. Change the oil when you get home.

[shitty67]

thanks for all the advice. hopefully by the end of september I'll be ready to go.

[WDCreech]

I break in every engine I build, race or street, the same way. I put the car on jack stands, but not absolutely necessary, run the engine at 2000 to 2500 for 20 to 25 minutes, then change the oil and filter. That's It! It is also a good idea to have a friend stand by with a hose to cool the radiator, and to watch for leaks.

[adamsvega]

if you look to my avitar you'll see what not to do on a first pass!!! run it on jacks and go through everthing twice . then do some around the blocks and brake checks!!! a few easy passes and then have fun .
DONT GET COCKY AND SAY I'M GOOD. I KNOW THIS CAR . IT WONT GO CRAZY .

[Black1987stang]

I break in every engine I build, race or street, the same way. I put the car on jack stands, but not absolutely necessary, run the engine at 2000 to 2500 for 20 to 25 minutes, then change the oil and filter. That's It! It is also a good idea to have a friend stand by with a hose to cool the radiator, and to watch for leaks.

Run the engine in neutral at those rpm's? I can see if it's got a new flat tappet cam in it and it needs the higher rpm for splash lubrication to properly break in but how is that supposed to seat in the rings? That's what I consider the "break in part" anyway.