Well, if that is what he specified..........who's to do otherwise?? He
built it!!

Would not have been my approach, however. I guess my aircraft mechanic
training still influences how I approach things. And these WBX engines
are so much like small aircraft engines. In fact, the aircooled VW
engines are used in homebuilt aircraft.

In fact, we were taught  to use a straight weight break-in oil
specifically to allow a little more rapid wear-in between the rings and
the cylinder walls. After honing the cylinder walls to have sufficient
cross-hatching, the rings were pushed into place in the cylinder and the
end-gap manually checked with a gauge. Then the rings were installed on
the piston and the side clearance of the ring to the ring land was
checked. Next came installation in the engine. The cylinder barrel and
rings were always lubed first before assembly. After assembly, before
the rirst run, the engine had a straight weight oil added. The purpose
of this oil was to lube, but not to lube perfectly, which would allow
for a rapid wear-in and seating of the new rings by wearing-in or
lapping the surface of the cross-hatching and the face of the ring to
each other, for a much closer fit, but not too much. Later, as
specified, the engine got an oil change to a multi-grade oil and a new
filter. The better grade oil stopped or reduced the wearing-in process
to practically "Zero" and simply formed a close tolerance seal between
ring and cylinder wall.

I would think that starting out with a multigrade oil would hinder the
process.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Frank Condelli wrote:

>In a message dated 21/01/2004 8:45:31 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>jh_rodgers@bellsouth.net writes:
>
>Why are  you using a multi-grade oil for break in on a new  engine??
>
>Because that's what  Bob recommended.
>Cheers,
>
>Frank  Condelli
>Almonte, Ontario, Canada
>_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
>camping event, Almonte, ON, June 10 ~ 13, 2004
>'87 Westy & Lionel  Trains
>Member: _Vanagon List_ (http://www.vanagon.com/) , _LiMBO_
>(http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/) , _IWCCC_ (http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/)  & _CCVWC_
>(http://www.ccvwc.ca/)
>Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in  the Ottawa Valley
>_STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel  Mufflers_
>(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
>_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
>or  http://frankcondelli.com
>
>
>