What a guy!
Earlier this evening I spoke with Frank Bowman, ring guru extraordinaire, and all I can say is this guy knows more about cylinders, pistons, rings and extracting every available ft/lb of torque, power and rpm from our stock engines than any machinist I've ever known(and there are plenty)!
Ordered several sets of rings for immediate maintenance/rebuilds as well as back-ups and spares for later rebuilds on the rest of the fleet. Now I'm really excited and anxiously awaiting the mail this coming week. Wish I still lived in Sante Fe, I'd drive 1/2 way 'cross NM on over to his place just to see his production tools and pick up the rings today. After reading up on his products on this board and numerous others, it just makes me all the more eager to give them a go.
He's quite the wealth of information and interesting stories to boot...and very willing to share that knowledge. If you know anything about mechanics, metallurgy or tool and die he'll get as technical as you can stand and seems to be perfectly well versed in the art of simplifying it as well. After about an hour and 15 minutes I thought my head was going to explode with everything I was trying to glean from his tutoring. Being an info junky, it was like a short trip to "Wonderland" for me. Just hope I can retain even 10% of it all.
Thanks to those who have helped to make this valuable resource known on the boards. I'm quite happy, even in advance, to join the ranks of the Bowman ring users.
you can Google "Frank Bowman rings" or use the link below for his contact info.
http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php...1&topic=3109.0