Hey Wyatt... instead of just making a break-in load, why don't you incorporate a couple'a extra parts and make a dynomometer?
What you do is... get a good-sized hydraulic pump... like 20gpm @ 3500psi, and end-mount it on a pivot at crankshaft height, put an arm and load-cell on there...
Then run a line from (probably need 8 gallons or so) reservoir, through a radiator (with electric fan), into the pump, then from the pump, past a pressure-relief set to flow 30gpm @ 2500psi, then to a throttle-valve, back to the reservoir...and mount a tach on the pump's input shaft.
Connect the load-cell and tach signal to a computer... might wanna put an exhaust pyrometer and a cylinder-head temp sensor on it too... write a little piece of software that takes readings of all at same time.
With the throttle valve totally open, there'll be essentially no pump pressure, just lots'a flow. When you close the throttle valve, the line pressure will rise, and the pump will start imposing load on the engine. The pump's torque reaction will fall on the load-cell, which will measure engine torque. If you do your geometry right, you'll get a direct milliamps-to-foot-pounds type ratio, so easy math!
You could simplify the whole thing by using a motorcycle disk-brake and caliper to make a simple friction load-source(instead of all that plumbing and oil), but the hydraulic method (with heat exchanger) will be more able to run continuous-duty, while the brake will eventually become overheated and melt down. You'll need continuous-duty for break-in, but there ain't much difference in fabrication between using an old farm pump and an old hydraulic pump.
I've been considering making a portable dyno of the brake-disk variety for testing small engines, but have enough projects already...