On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:36:22 -0500, Sanity wrote:
Years ago the factory shipped the cars in with a very light engine oil. You
were instructed to drive the car at a very low speed for X amount of miles
then gradually raise the speed on the car.

For '70s stuff I was always told just not to stress the engine - there was
no real need to limit peak rpm or speed (within reasonable limits), just
not to put too much load on the engine. I think it was oil change at 500
miles, then another at 1500, then normal cycle after that.

I don't think that's been true on new-from-factory cars for decades,
though (they'll do all the necessary running-in there before delivery,
presumably to avoid the unwary taking delivery of the car and blowing the
engine) - but presumably still applies to modern rebuilt engines.

On your first engine oil change on the older cars you could actually
feel metal that wore away mixed in with the oil.

Yeah - I was used to there being a little magnet in the sump drain plug,
and this'd come out first time with a big column of swarf on it...

cheers

Jules