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MG MGA - Hi-Gear Engineering Transmission & Conversion Kit!

My transmission and conversion kit arrive today and my work will begin! I've have heeded the advice received here and plan to perform an 'engine out' conversion. As usual I have a question on how to proceed...

Is it best to remove the engine and gearbox separately or as a unit?
gerard hutchinson

As a unit - just pull the gearlever, unbolt the crossmember from the gearbox mounts, undo the propshaft both ends, pull the rad, undo the engine mounts, unbolt both manifolds, hook the exhaust manifold on the chassis, put the carbs & manifold on the scuttle, drop the starter and clutch cylinder and pull the whole lot out - undo the bonnet stay and tie the bonnet vertically, saves taking that off and realigning it after.

Lifting the back of the car makes extracting the unit easier.

Chris at Octarine Services

Thanks Chris! Actually I have been wondering how to remove the gear lever? I do not see the procedure in the shop manual.
gerard hutchinson

Unscrew the access plate that surrounds the gearshift lever to get at the lever. This will likely require removing the carpeting on the tranny cover. I also unbolt the steering rack from its mounting, then move the rack forward a couple of inches. It helps.
C.T. Irwin

I think Chris is thinking he's in the MGB board, as the MGA has no gearbox crossmember.

It's MUCH easier on the MGA to take the engine out on its own. Otherwise Chris has described the process pretty well.

Use a long strap loop around the sprung hood catch, over the top of the screen and under the mirror to raise the hood out of the way.

There is no need to move the rack, and if you bend the carb heat shield a little outwards, you can use a 1/4" ratchet to get at the carb manifold nuts and remove the carbs as an assembly which will save a lot of time when refitting. Tuck on top of a towel on the heater and nothing needs to be disconnected. Remove the exhaust manifold from the downpipes and tie the flange of the downpipe out of the way to the chassis, as Chris says.

Starter has to be removed, as does the distributor (mark flange and body for easy refitting and no timing reset), and dynamo to be able to get at the engine mounts.

Put a jack under the front of the gbx to raise it up for 1) getting at the front gear lever bolts, 2) removing and refitting the engine

DON'T use a roller bearing for the release bearing - they don't last.

Just remove the whole slave cylinder from MGA box and tie out of the way until refitting on the new gearbox. No bleeding required

Without any other fixing, this is a job that can be easily done in a day.
Dominic Clancy

Dominic,

Thanks for the advice. I definitely think it is easier to remove the engine and gearbox separately but I was really hoping they could be installed together. I believe it will be really difficult to join the gearbox to the engine from underneath the car. I also have a couple questions:

1. why must the distributor be removed?

2. My current transmission uses a roller bearing right? What is my alternative to using a roller bearing?
gerard hutchinson

I'm certain that the instructions will tell you to install the gearbox first and then, once it it is bolted in, install the engine.

It isn't so difficult to do this, in fact the gearbox can be manhandled into place from the engine compartment. It is probably easier to work with the gearbox on its own during the installation of the new gearbox mountings, to make sure everything is in the correct place.

You need a lot of lifting height to install the engine and gearbox together, and probably will need quite a few helpers to give you a hand with it.

I recently removed my engine and 5-speed gearbox separately, on my own, without any problems.

Buy a low-price "load leveller" for helping to lift the engine out, it makes removal and particularly, replacing the engine so much easier. (about £30) It makes aligning the bell housing and the engine so much easier when you refit it.

I never had to remove the engine front pulley or loosen the steering rack bolts to get the engine out.
I covered the front edge of the bulkhead in front of the heater and the steering rack with some thin pieces of carpet to protect the paint on them

I used a sintered carbon type release-bearing and this has coped very well with a 140 bhp engine.

And I left the distributor fitted to the engine.

Colyn




Colyn Firth

Dominic - the last time I looked the MGA had a big bent tubular crossmember with a sodding big bolt holding the gearbox mount to it ...
Chris at Octarine Services

Sorry Chris but "unbolt the crossmember from the gearbox mounts" sounded like pure MGB to me, with its separate crossmember and twin gearbox rubber mounts.

On the A, the tubular cross member is below the front of the bell housing, and the single gearbox mount bolt is at the chassis under the rear gbx extension. There is no bolt at the tubular bit of any sort, also not to the gearbox.

1. why must the distributor be removed?
Otherwise it's very vulnerable in the engine extraction and it's only one little mark and a single bolt to remove it

2. My current transmission uses a roller bearing right? What is my alternative to using a roller bearing?
The standard carbon thrust bearing (the roller bearing is not standard and as long as you ONLY have your foot ON the clutch pedal when changing gear, they last a long time

3. you probably should remove the oil filter too.
Dominic Clancy

Gerard,
To remove the gear shift lever, you will have to remove the gear box cover assembly. Here's a picture of mine during restoration.

Jim


JL Cheatham

I found that unbolting the 4 bolts of the steering rack allowed the rack to be pushed forward, allowing about 2 inches of extra wiggle room when extracting/inserting the engine. I also found it was faster to fit the 5-speed tranny by hand, then the engine. Just needed 2 people to jiggle the engine and/or tranny when fitting up the input shaft to the clutch disc.

Sorry to hear the roller bearing has still not been improved enough to surpass the carbon disk release bearing in durability. I used a roller bearing in the '90s, and thought it was pretty good, but then heard the redesign was shoddy.

Is any carbon bearing better than the other?

Tyler
C.T. Irwin

Gerard, don't make the mistake I did when fitting the gear lever and the turret cover. I was repairing and uprating the gearbox and this was the first time I had ever worked on it.
My car had the 5-speed conversion when I got it and so I was not totally familiar with how it all went back together.

After I had refitted the gear lever I found that I couldn't get the cover to fit back on to the tunnel.

It was about 3 inches too far forward and I just couldn't understand why, I thought that maybe I had somehow put the engine and gearbox in incorrectly so that it was too far forward.

It had me baffled and it wasn't until the next day that it dawned on me what had happened.


I had fitted the gear lever onto the gearbox back to front, with the extension facing forwards instead of backwards!
It is very easy to do and it looked absolutely right, but it took me almost a whole day to figure out where I went wrong.

I have posted a couple of pictures to show you what not to do! :^)

Colyn





Colyn Firth

Picture of where the turret wanted to fit with the gear lever the wrong way round.


Colyn Firth

This thread was discussed between 05/02/2020 and 21/02/2020

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