Can I break in motor with no driveshaft??

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Hyper Henry

Hyper Henry

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Dumb question here guys but can I break in a motor with no driveshaft :dontknow:
383 in a notchback with 4-speed conversion and I just have a yoke in the end of the tranny so it doesn't leak fluid. But as I was turning over the motor the yoke is turning. Should this be happening and will it not fly out if I try and fire the motor :help::help:
 
Short answer is no-you can not break in a motor with out a load on it. And yes the yoke may fly off.
 
By breaking in the engine are you talking about primarily the cam shaft and lifters. If that's the case then yes you can run it without the drive shaft. make sure the tranny is in neutral and get some thick wire (coat hanger) and wire the yoke from turning and ankor it a little forward to keep the yoke/sleeve from falling out. Even with the tranny in neutral the output shaft will try to turn slowly because of oil friction inside the tranny but there is no mechanical connection between the input and output tranny shafts in neutral. With the engine not running make sure the tranny actually is in neutral and you can turn the output yoke easily, sometimes the shift linkage will be out of adjustment and one of the gears could be partially engaged.
 
demon seed said:
By breaking in the engine are you talking about primarily the cam shaft and lifters. If that's the case then yes you can run it without the drive shaft. make sure the tranny is in neutral and get some thick wire (coat hanger) and wire the yoke from turning and ankor it a little forward to keep the yoke/sleeve from falling out. Even with the tranny in neutral the output shaft will try to turn slowly because of oil friction inside the tranny but there is no mechanical connection between the input and output tranny shafts in neutral. With the engine not running make sure the tranny actually is in neutral and you can turn the output yoke easily, sometimes the shift linkage will be out of adjustment and one of the gears could be partially engaged.
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x2 or pull the yoke and tape a spray can cap over the tail shaft
 
I've seen a guy drive line floppin/spinning round bouncing off the car w/4spd in neutral not attached to the rear.lol

he was just reving the motor a lil then wrapped it up and bam bam bam bam bam ..lol
 
The problem with not having a yoke is that there's nothing to center the mainshaft. Either a stick or auto will try and turn "some" in neutral. I say figure a way to hold the yoke in place, like, a length of threaded rod with nuts/ washers.

I also say that you cannot PROPERLY break in the rings without some load on the engine. The cam is a different story.
 
Thanks again everyone. I won't be getting a driveshaft until next month and I am choppin at the bit to fire the motor 8-[ It has been built and sitting in my shop since summer ](*,)
But if you guys think it best to wait until I can get a driveshaft for it to break in new motor, what's a few more weeks :cry:
 
Pull the yoke out, put some duct tape over the opening and fire it up. Ive run plenty of rebuilt motors for half an hour or more to break the cam in and check for leaks. It won't hurt a damn thing to run it for a while without driving it down the road.
 
1wild&crazyguy said:
I've seen a guy drive line floppin/spinning round bouncing off the car w/4spd in neutral not attached to the rear.lol

he was just reving the motor a lil then wrapped it up and bam bam bam bam bam ..lol
Click to expand...

Were you at my house 20 years ago? :-D

Yeah, I've done it before.
 
63Belvedere said:
Dumb question here guys but can I break in a motor with no driveshaft :dontknow:
383 in a notchback with 4-speed conversion and I just have a yoke in the end of the tranny so it doesn't leak fluid. But as I was turning over the motor the yoke is turning. Should this be happening and will it not fly out if I try and fire the motor :help::help:
Click to expand...
Again no-you can break in the cam but not the rings and rings are very important to engine life.
If anything happens to the tranny while you are running the engine it will be destroyed. It normally passes the power to the rear wheels, it is not meant to absorb the entire engine out-put and will break.
Be smart.
Wait until you can do it right (out of the garage just incase) with the engine fully installed.
 
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