It's unfathomable that I could leave a brand new B5 sitting untouched for a week. But somehow I managed to do it (it helped that highs here in North Florida were around 40F the last 14 days).

I began the break-in process tonight using Ron's method with one change ... I used the Hudy break-in bench I bought last year for the first two tanks. I couldn't let this expensive piece of machinery not provide any value. It came in very handy while breaking in 2 GO's plus a P/S replacement. All three of those times it took me 30-45 minutes to get the engine to fire up.

Prior to firing it up, I sealed the backplate and pinch bolts. The P/S was nicely lubricated and I didn't see any obvious manufacturing defects. On mounting the engine up I noticed that the oval logo gets in the way of the front bolts, but I worked around that problem.

The B5 started immediately and ran smoothly. In fact, I'm a tiny bit worried that I couldn't get the temps up above 120F, even after using an engine warmer. The second tank did better, but only up to 175. I wrapped two heavy duty paper towels around the head to keep them up.

Tonight I will put it in the Z01B in preparation for final break-in tomorrow.