Bon Ami

[John Hofstetter <hofs@domain.elided>]

>Subject: Hey John tell me about the Bon Ami !!!
>
>Bon Ami & rings???   I need to hear this.
>
>I do know that mixed with water Bon Ami is really good for scrubbing all =
>the bugs, etc. off of a windshield  :)
>You know what they say... Hasn't scratched yet !

Andrew,
Rather than starting again, I'm including a post by Howard to me, and my 
reply to him. 

>>Say did I ever tell you guys about Bon Ami cleanser and seating rings?
>>John H.
>>
>>
>Some of the old-timers used to tell about customers who would bring their
>early-50's trucks in to the factory because of oil consumption with the
>then "new" chrome rings.  It took 2 mechanics to fix the problem--one to
>take the customer out for a cup of coffee, 1 to apply the Bon Ami while
>he was gone.
>
>Perhaps you were there..........
>
>Howard

Howard,
Good story, and undoubtedly based on real fact. In the last half of the 
50's and all of the 60's, I used Perfect Circle rings in rebuild jobs. 
Perfect Circle was so dominant in their advertising that everyone 
believed that there were no other rings that could possibly do an 
adequate job. Non-chrome rings usually seated with no problem, but those 
darn chrome Perfect Circles were a nightmare. 

If the finish hone was very well done, with very good crosshatching, the 
rings would sometimes seat. If not, Bon Ami time. For you kids, we'd rev 
up the engine and let the draft carry loose Bom Ami from our hand down 
through the intake system and into the cylinders. Bon Ami's motto was, 
"Hasn't scratched yet". Well, it scratched a lot of cylinder walls and 
chrome rings. 

I was, as some of you know, a bacteriology major in college, and we 
always cleaned all our microscope slides by wiping on a wet Bon Ami 
paste, letting it dry, and then polishing off the coating with a cloth. 
Did a great job. 

Long live, Bon Ami.
John Hofstetter