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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - MG - The Complete Story

I have just picked up from my local newsagent a thick magazine style book (258 pages) titled "Great British Marques - MG - The Complete Story". It is produced by the publishers of Octane and MG Enthusiast. I have not seen it before and, judging by some of the adverts, it looks a very recent publication.

It covers MG from inception to the current day.

Of note to this forum are 3 MGA articles plus an odd mention in item 3 below:

1. MGA Mille Miglia - 4 pages with 5 historic photos.

2. Supercharged MGA - 5 page owner's story about his rebuild and Judson installation.

3. MGs In The Movies - 5 pages.

4. MGA Buyer's Guide - 5 pages


For anyone interested it is ISBN 1-906372-81-0 and costs UK£9.99

Steve


Steve Gyles

Thanks Steve, I am flying over to Spain next week for a few days so you have just sorted out my in flight boredom problem!
It sounds like you may have also cost me a couple of thousand pounds (or even a divorce ) once I have read the supercharger section!
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Colyn

W H Smiths at the airport using airport transfers tunbridge wells will likely have it. It seems that the Judson scarcity with the MGA is due to the Volkswagen Beetle brigade who took vast numbers of Judson kits in their hey day. May be worth scouring Beetle websites (the car, not the group).

Steve
Steve Gyles

I was able to purchase my copy directly from MG Enthusiast Magazine last summer..Tony
Tony Shoviak

Just before anyone gets over excited and goes and buys a VW Judson in the hope that it will fit the A, I suggest a careful look at my website from where it will soon be clear that the MGA unit is very different, and in fact the only one that has any similar components (I believe, and it is only a belief) is the Volvo unit which may have the same base unit as the MGA one, but all the plumbing is different.

The other units are all individual, (although perhaps the Corvair and TR units also have a common core unit).

If you buy a Judson, golden rule is that it must be complete except for the oiler (that's easy to get except for the special MGA one). If it's missing you just buy a new one or a used one from a number of different places. The MGA Judson one is not quite the rarest of them all - that has to be the SL190 Judson, where I have only ever seen one for sale.
dominic clancy

I've seen a similiar book at Barnes and Noble for Jaguar. I'll watch for the MG version now.
G Goeppner

I just picked up a copy of the book from WH Smiths, it has just been reduced from £9.99 to £4.99 too which is a bonus.
It looks really quite good and I am tempted to start reading it before my holiday flight but have resisted so far.
Thanks again for the heads-up Steve.
Colyn
Colyn Firth

Actually, Dom, the Judson for the Volvo mounts on the other side of the engine as the MGA. See, for example,

http://vwjudsonregister.tripod.com/mga_instructions.htm
vs
http://vwjudsonregister.tripod.com/berglas-judson-volvo.htm

So the turbine casting is roughly mirror imaged on the two cars. It's been a while since I've had a Volvo, but as I recall the Judson used a single-barrel Strombecker carburetor in contrast with the Holley for the MGA, but this is surely just a plumbing difference. There were a few other points of departure, though; the Volvo Judson used a dual-belt pulley on some models, having the solid idler pulley ride on the outside of the belt loop, whereas the single-belt model (as I had) came with a stamped and riveted idler-pulley on the inside of the loop. And expectably, the castings replacing the stock intake manifolds are quite different on the models for the two cars.

Bottom line: don't buy a Volvo Judson for your MGA. (One went on eBay for well over $3K, in any event.)
Ken Korey

Hi Steve, Just got my copy on Saturday - on prominent display in WHS on the 1/2 price SALE stand - now glad I missed buying it last year at full price - how was Stoneleigh? - cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

This thread was discussed between 06/02/2010 and 21/02/2010

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