Since you are "new to Triumph racing" (and the phenomenon you describe is in
no way unique, or even typical, to just Triumphs or even LBCs in general.
It's just as true of Chevies and Fords, Porsches and Ferraris.
It's a trial and error process, mostly to find people you can trust.
Basically you do it by asking others who they trust.
Sometimes you arrive at dead ends. I have a great engine builder now, but he
is the fourth guy I've gone to. The first one was a total incompetent who
built me a $5000 boat anchor. The second and third were shade-tree guys and
fellow racers who had good knowledge and ability and basically took the boat
anchor made by the incompetent and made it at least usable, but who would
not always be there just when I needed them because they had day jobs. Now I
have a guy who owns his own machine shop for a living, and who also happens
to be extremely knowledgeable about performance Spitfires.
Different people are good on different things. My engine guy is really good
on engines, suspension, etc, and knowledgeable about the whole car, but I
have another guy (who is his good buddy) who is my gearbox and diff go-to
guy.
For the record, that's Wayne Snyder at the Able Co. in Wyoming, Mich. And
the gears guy is Duane Bailey of West Michigan Imports, Byron Center, Mich.
Both are Grand Rapids suburbs. (and I don't live in Michigan; I'm in
Kansas).
It only took me 20 years to find Wayne. Actually, I found him in about 10
years, but it was another 10 before I could afford him. (And I'd known Duane
since college, lost track of him, and "found" him again when he popped up in
Wayne's hometown; imagine my surprise to find a guy I'd last seen
autocrossing an Olds 442 now racing Spitfires; imagine his to find I was
still campaigning the same Spit I had when he had the 442.).
One other invaluable resource is Ted Schumacher at TS Imported Automotive in
Pandora, Ohio. The man is a walking encyclopedia of Triumph performance
minutiae. I call him "my favorite junkman" because he has an import (mostly
Britcar, I think) salvage yard. But he also has Triumph parts and a
wonderful ability to obtain the unobtainable. From him I got my lightweight
fiberglass hood, I don't know how many stub axles. And most recently my
gear-reduction starter (I LOVE that thing!).
When Triumph quit the racing biz, Ted swept their performance parts shelves.
"Hey, Ted, got a 4:55 gearset?" He had the last six. I made it five. When I
trashed that one, he was out. Six months later I called him about something
else. "You still looking for a 4:55 gearset?" You bet. He'd not only found a
new supply, he remembered half a year later I was looking for one. Once I
bought a differential case from him. "Big case or small?" he asks. There's
two sizes? He knows to ask me things like that instead of just assuming and
sending the wrong thing. And when I didn't know the difference, he patiently
explained it to me.
Go less on what specs someone has in his catalog than on what other racers
think of his products.
--Rocky
----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Young" <cartravel@pobox.com>
To: <fot@autox.team.net>
Cc: "Fred Houston" <ModelTGrg@aol.com>; "Tulsaab" <tulsaab@hotmail.com>;
"Sam Clark" <trdoctor@aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 9:06 AM
Subject: Triumph Performance Parts, buying a Pig in a Poke?
> Since I'm new to Triumph racing and performance modifications, I've been
> spending a lot of time trying to find out what is out there, what is
> good and what is not. I've been amazed at how difficult it is to get
> technical details. I've paraphrased a typical conversation below.
>
> Larry: Gee, you have a beautiful glossy catalog, but it lacks many
> technical details, so I have a few questions.
> Vendor: Yes
> Larry: Regarding your high performance heads, what flow bench numbers
> do you get?
> Vendor: I don't have any flow bench figures for our full race head, but
> they work extremely well. Trust me.
> Larry: Ok then, you offer a distributor which is modified for racing.
> What is the advance curve?
> Vendor: I don't have advance curve figures, but I know they work real
> good. Trust me.
> Larry: Ok then, I'd like more information on your performance
> camshafts. Your catalog gives no data for timing events or lift. As a
> minimum, I would like to know the timing seat-to-seat and at 0.050 or
> better yet the complete lift curve.
> Vendor: I can supply the seat-to-seat numbers and lift only, but I know
> they work real good. We tend not to publish too much data on our
> products, because we don't want them to be copied.
> Larry: But if I wanted to copy your products I would only have to buy
> one. Your secretive policy hurts only those that want to comparison shop
> for speed parts. This could be a smoke screen to conceal the inferiority
> of your parts. How do I know I'm not buying a pig in a poke?
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