Zenoah Break-In.

[Radical Rick]

I know that the break in process of these egines can apparently be done a hundred different ways depending on who you ask. The thing that strikes me odd is that in the operators manual of every Zenoah engine I've ever owned it specifically stated that they didn't really recommend or suggest any type of break-in process on the new engine. The manual always said that "No specific Break-in is required," and "The engine is already pre-tuned from the Factory to give optimum performance". Since this is the case, why does everyone still "Break-in" their engines? Has anyone seen any hardcore negative evidence that doing a precautionary break-in makes a difference in the life span and performance aspect of these engines? I always ran them on the easy side for the first tank anyway but after that I always retuned them and let 'em rip after that and never experienced any negative effects. However this is the first air-cooled Zenoah engine I've ever owned as the other ones were water cooled in my boats. I'm not saying that giving the engine a "running in" period isn't a good idea or anything, I'm just curious about the results of break-in Vs. not. Why would Zenoah claim that it's not needed if it really is? Any takers on this one?:ponder:

[HarleyDan]

Almost all people do the break in to seat the ring; from a mechanical standpoint, seems like a good idea.

On my first baja, I just let her rip, cause the manual said so. My other two Bajas, I did perform a break-in, that I learned on the forums.

I never observed any problem on my first, but in order to determine whether it will affect the longevity of the engine would take quite a while and many many engines.....

My opinion is,it can't hurt to do a break in, but I can't say whether it makes any difference.