Firstly I want to clear up something - when you hone the cylinder walls - it leaves a weave pattern on them that is rough - if you see the rings they are rough too, the idea is to MATE the rings to the cylinder walls to have solid compression before the hone and ring edges wear out.
Piston rings are forced into the cylinder wall by
compression pressure that goes behind the rings and forces them to bite into the cylinders - this effect is multiplied when the engine is on the OVERRUN. Now if you leave the engine idling at no load - you have nearly no air in the cylinders - because the throttle valve is closed - (no effective pressure on the rings) - and the rings are just rubbing away the hone - forming a glaze polish on the cylinders - which will be as effective as trying to hold a cube ice on another cube of ice. Your engine will be as good as a half life engine.
My engines are done to factory specs - and are in full optimum tune at startup - check for leaks, noises etc, cooling system, fans and what not - then its breaking in time.. Accelerate hard does not imply that I stupidly gun the engine - accelerate hard means - you should know when the engine works best in what gear - thats when I load it up with throttle rev till 4900 on a 6000 redline engine (e.g. I would not do this in a tall geared car) - and yes - NO A/C load or a horde of passengers on board.
I hate it when mechanics and machinists place the piston too tight in the cylinder and the ring gaps and position dont make sense at all. - The ring gap is there to take up the heat expansion at normal operating temperature. A too tight piston will surely rapidly eat away the cylinder liner OR sieze the engine on the first break in run - and you have to start all over again.
Another point to note is that the crank journals should have a rounded lifted bevel - at the edges of each journal - to force the bearing to 'seal' from the sides - and the oiling holes should be dished (boweled) in the normal spin side to hold a little oil reserve.. Finally the crank journals should be polished to a sheen with a lasso and ultra fine sand paper- as in they should be mirror finished - not left metallic or dull. I also bead blast the piston skirts and dress their skirt edges so they dont feel sharp or rough - they should also have a slight funneling effect to enhance lubrication (cheaply manufactured engines lack this kind of finishing detail)
