Question that may sound weird

[Guest]

I had two old car buffs who were speaking of strange things they had seen back in the 40's-60's in some of the older garages of the times. One guy was saying that he had seen a Buick engine rebuilt once in which the old mechanic poured in a bit of Pet Evaporated Mild into the cylinders. He said the old mechanic had used the trick for years in making the new rings seat properly. Maybe he meant the valve seats, but this is what he said anyway.<P>I had never heard or seen such a thing, but having been about a lot of old mechanics over the years, I know there are a ton of old tricks that they used which would make one scratch their heads in wonder. For example, I am aware of a person who blew in a bit of milk when patching old innertubes for a Model A. Supposedly, the milk clabbered and sealed the tube. The stuff used to candle eggs is still used today to seal blocks, so some of these old tricks are still about in one form or another.<P>Well, I am just trying to find out if anyone has heard of the above trick at all. The two old coots are arguing about the thing and it would be nice to know who is correct. A myth or what? Since neither operate computers, I said I'd look the fool and ask the question and let them know the response.<P>Other than funny sayings as living in the land of milk and Motor Honey or this puts a new meaning on the phrase. "Got Milk?" anyone out there know what the guy was actually describing or has anyone seen such done in the past.<BR>Thanks,<BR>Coupe1942

[Guest]

It was my luck? to personally know some old time mechanics who were active during the teens thru the '60's.<P>While I have not heard of evaporated milk being used to seat rings I was told by one that bon-ami and dutch-maid abrasive cleansers were used to quickly seat piston rings, it was explained to me that the powder was mixed with light oil and poured either onto the carb when running or into the sparkplug holes.<BR>One of these fellows was the same guy who used to pour water into the carb of a running engine to "decarbonize" it and I watched him do it several times, the result was a large area of carbon on the ground near the tailpipe,effective?wonder if it cracked any valve seats?

[Guest]

I personally have used Bon-Ami on a car to seat the rings. It worked real well.(A couple tablespoons down the carburetor at fast idle)

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply. No, the decarbonizing or de-coking is an old tried and true trick of the trade. Model A owners removed the head and scraped the head and block as a normal routine years ago when the cars were new. The de-coking in the method you address has been spoken of by Click and Clack and others in the ability to be a poor man's valve job. Problem with an updraft carb is that it is difficult to do and the A has the carb so near the exhaust that it gets mighty hot holding a water bottle down there to try to get the water spray just right.<P>Thanks for the info.<BR>Huey