Re: Comments re various questions.

[Glenn Merrell <gmerrel@domain.elided>]

Hello Tony,
	I'm very pleased to see your positive feedback to the questions flying about on
this list.  I must say it is a pleasure to have your input and the benefit of
your many years of Stag maintenance and racing experience.
	Please do throw in your tuppence's in as much as time permits. Notwithstanding
few of the postings here, this list solved more Stag related problems in a
single day than most newsletters in a whole year.  All the more the reason to
ask for your more frequent input and expert advice.  I surely appreciate your
contributions both by e-mail and phone.  I believe that Stag owners with access
to the internet also post questions by Stag Owners not having internet access,
increasing the dispersal of information supplied here.

	If I may make a request of your knowledge.  There does seem to be a lot of
manure being tossed about regarding quality of parts.  From my own experience,
it is very difficult to determine what parts are of what quality (from my humble
novice eye), and many times, the supplier will not volunteer, or does not know
the material specification upon request.  Possibly we could start a listing of
recommended manufacturers and their related distributors?  I would be willing to
set up a web page for tracking this information (or other volunteer here ...),
but would require a list of manufacturers and their distributors, what
manufacturers that were the original sources, the parts and materials that are
OEM, correct uprated, or superior quality specification.  Those manufacturers
using sub quality materials would not be listed to avoid product slander suits,
and owners encouraged to ask only for the recommended manufacturer and/or
product specification.

Cylinder Head Gaskets:  A pet peeve of mine, agreeing totally about the reasons
for gasket failures.  Would you supply us with information that will allow us to
properly identify correct gasket manufacturers, construction and materials?  I
have several head gasket sets sold from SNG Barratts, and I'd like to be able to
identify that they are correct before fitting inferrior parts in this sensitive
area.  Oil pump "New" vs "rebuilt" seems to be another concern that we could use
the benefit of your experience regarding pressure relief valve binding and
improper spring type.

EU regulations:  With the new automotive parts CE Directive looming over your
collective EEC heads, the upside is that a manufacturer must maintain
information regarding parts material, composition, design specification, etc. 
This information must be assured by a declaration of conformity.  Although this
will assist in quality assurance of components supplied to EU countries, the
rest of the world will become a dumping ground for the inferior parts until they
are consumed.  All the more reason to start a listing of quality parts
manufacturers, including those with Declarations of Conformity.  

	I have personally witnessed this dumping problem, as I bought mail order parts
from a well known supplier several weeks before the Gaydon celebration in 1998,
then at Gaydon, noticed that the proper soft rubber parts were prominently
displayed on the distributors tables, no hard rubber ones.  I questioned the
export manager at that time, he stated that these were the "only ones" they
sell.  Either he was unaware of the inferrior parts, or he lied to me.  He did
offer to exchange the hard rubber strips with the proper soft rubber ones, which
he did on the spot.   Also, the gaiters I received were clearly pacific rim
manufacturer, where the ones displayed on the tables clearly not.  Same with
shifter gaiter and suspension bush kits. Caveat Emptor y'all!

Another area that may be lending fuel to the fire is substitution of "equal"
parts supposedly fitted to other model lines, like front/rear springs and
struts, upper bush mounts, etc.  If we can gather information on parts, proper
"equal" substitutions could also be listed.

Yours for speculation, in my humble opinion,

Regards,
Glenn  Merrell
Triumph Stag Register USA VP
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