Triumph Repair: triumph spitfire valve seals, valve stem seals, valve seals

Question
I am working on putting my 1975 spitfire 1500 back together, I am learning as i go. My question is..valve seals, my manual does not show them, but they are on my head, do i need to replace/remove them? I also have a spare head which I tore down, and did not have them. Thank you for your time.   Tina

Answer
Hi Tina,
Triumph did not put valve stem seals on the engine. If you have seals on the engine now, it was because someone put them on for some unknown reason.
The trouble with installing stem seals when a factory did not, is that unless you have a method of testing to see that you are not starving a "stem to guide" of oil, you can cause more harm than good.
Just check to see that your "stem to guide" clearance is within bounds and forget stem seals.
Howard