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MG MGA - How to tell which engine is in a 1962 Mark II?

Good Day all
I am over from the TD board and I am currently looking at a 1962 MGA Mark II. On a TD I can go to the MG Car Club site in the UK and get the information for a T Series car as to the correct engine with the car body numbers and the year built. Is there a site to get this information for a MGA. How do you tell if it is a 1500 or 1600 or other engine? What is the difference between a Mark II and a deluxe and how do you find this? Right now I’m trying to get the numbers from the owner. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. John
John Hambleton

John,

A Deluxe is a MGA with a pushrod engine on a Twin Cam chassis. They have steel rim knockoffs and disc brakes on all four wheels. Also the masters for the clutch an brakes are seperate. The engine maybe a 1622 but after all this time who knows.

Mark


M Gannon

mc's


M Gannon

engine


M Gannon

You'll find a ton of information on all MGAs on Barney Gaylord's site, http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/
The Victoria British catalog has some information as well. http://www.victoriabritish.com/icatalog/mga/full.aspx?Page=9
The best source I know of is Anders Clausager's book, http://www.amazon.com/Original-MGA-Anders-Ditlev-Clausager/dp/0760314500/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235164174&sr=1-6

Bill Young

John,

Many other BMC cars, in addition to the MGA 1600 MK11, had the 1622 engine.
If it has the 1622 mark cast on the side of the engine block, as per the photo in the earlier post, and it has the tachometer cable drive fitting at the rear side of the block where the camshaft housing finishes, you can be reasonably sure that it is a MGA 1600 MK11 engine.

See image


Mick


M F Anderson

A "16" cast in the top of the head at one end.
A Pearse

The "16" cast into the head is, more than anything else, what makes a Mk-II motor. Those heads were made for the Mk-II only, and are fairly difficult to find these days. As Mick said above, lots of cars used 1622 blocks. Castings were slightly different between cars - I believe it was the magnette and Austin America that had a 1622 block with no tach outlet and slightly different bosses for accepting an alternator instead of a generator. It's fairly straightforward to have a machine shop machine the tach outlet for you, but finding a 1622 head is likely to be a problem.
Mark Lambert

Austin Americas used the A series egine, Mike.

The Magnette never received an alternator. The block is functionally the same as the MGA Mk 2, though and the tach holes can be drilled out if you use a camshaft with the gear on it.
Bill Spohn

Thanks Guys
Unfortunately, for me the car was sold and I never heard from the owner on my engine question. Ah, as I used to say the early bird gets the worm. Thanks to all that answered. John
John Hambleton

John, I have a 62 MG A MkII with a 3 main 1800 engine from an early B installed. If interested perhaps, please drop me a note for further details. Regards.
J Rogers

John Hambleton

Contact me at my personal email. mga.tc@megawire.ca
James Hambleton
J Hambleton

This thread was discussed between 20/02/2009 and 26/02/2009

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