I've been watching this thread with interest over the last few days and
would refer to a somewhat tersely worded post sent to me off-list from an
"enthusiast." FAIK, there may be others out there who feel the same as he
does. Firstly, his view is that to replace original valve guides with those
of an alternative specification is sacriledge and if the new ones currently
under review are so good, why weren't they fitted as original equipment? He
goes on to say that using 'cheap' valve guides and 'soft' seats was an
intentional move on the part of Standard Triumph towards built-in
obsolesence.
In response, I'll say just this:
1. Higher spec valve guides were not fitted for a number of reasons: They
cost too much, unleaded fuel and its now far wider use on a global scale
together with its requirements for improved metals could not possibly have
been foreseen 30 plus years ago and its arguable that the metals technology
we know today was not so far advanced.
2. As for the built-in obsolesence argument, I greatly doubt that anyone at
the factory ever dreamed the cars of the sixties and seventies would ever
last more than 10 years at the very most. What many people seem to entirely
overlook is that hardly anyone looked forward forty odd years with the
general question of "will these cars ever have the enthusiast value we know
today?" Today being sometime around 1960. The answer to that query is "No
way." When Standard Triumph was in full scale production (and other
manufacturers as well) we all inclined to the fact that a car would be
driven hard, have two or three valve jobs and possibly a rebore in its
life - and that would be it. Junk!
The fact that so many have survived to this day is certainly not a question
of high engineering standards. Mostly, the technology and approach to
problems was oriented more to a pre-war stance and the survival of so many
to this day can only be broadly summarised as a "bloody miracle." Without
seeking to generate revenues and on a slightly different tack, this is one
very good reason to re-body a car with a Heritage body. While it's certainly
made on the original tooling, it takes full advantage of current steel and
paint technology and is light years ahead of its forebears in the form of
durability. It should certainly last far longer than the original prototype
ever could have been expected to live and IMHO represents outstanding value
for money. Well, outstanding perhaps for us in the UK but with the high
value of Sterling and shipping, this may not seem quite such a practical
option in more distant markets.
John Mac
Book 1: http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/triumphbook
Book 2: http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/crocus
Triumph Over Triumph magazine: http://www.cyberware.co.uk/~chips11
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