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MG MGA - MGA 1600 rear crankshaft oil seal.

I'm planning to fit a 5 speed gearbox shortly. Whilst the engine and gearbox is out, is there a rear crankshaft oil seal I could fit?
John Stephens

There is quite a lot involved in fitting a rear crankcase seal to the 1600 engine John, certainly not a simple operation.
Here's the link to the MGA Guru websites section on this which shows the options.

Cheers
Colyn

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/engine/cs202h.htm

PS I don't think that Barney is very keen for anyone to do this mod, he says that MGAs are designed to drip some oil.
Colyn Firth

Oh right, I see what you mean. It looks like I'll be living with it then. Thanks for the info. I don't mind if it drips on the road but not when it drips on the driveway!
John Stephens

John
I had a price for £250 for installing one earlier this year. It was carried out by Don Loughlin near Kidderminster. Mine cost more because of other issues in the engine. I haven't run the engine yet for other reasons! John


John Francis

Not a bad price considering the work involved John.

Don Loughlin is about as experienced with MG engines as it is possible to be. He was one of the original partners of Aldon Automotive, in fact he built the engine that was in my car when I first bought it 14 years ago.

Colyn
Colyn Firth

Don has retired now but his assistant Steve has taken over. He probably built your engine as he has been thee a long time. The company name has changed but you can still find it on google under don's name.
John Francis

John

Not a fix but you can stop the impact of this issue with a catcher as mine in photo. Very easy as it is just top part of Halfords oil can upside down and comes with an easy drawing mechanism. Held by bottom 2 engine/gearbox bolts.

Paul


Paul Dean

When I had a very drippy 3-bearing MGB engine in my car I was planning to fit one of those drip trays.

I quite liked the design that was on a swivel which allowed the slipstream to tip the tray over slightly when the car was moving and allow the oil to drip onto the road, but then swung back level to catch any drips when the car was stationary.
They are probably illegal today.

I have a 5-bearing engine installed now and so the car drips very little oil, just the odd drop from the crankcase vent pipe.

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

A slight variant on mine that isn’t immediately obvious is the vertical piece of metal in front of the can itself. I fitted this after flattening my first attempt on something. No problems since.

Paul
Paul Dean

I forgot to ask you Paul,
how did you get a spanner onto the bolt heads inside your drip-catcher?

Colyn
Colyn Firth

The answer is actually simple although I couldn’t instantly remember. The nuts you see are not the ones holding the engine to the gearbox but are second nuts on the same bolt hence easy to tighten.

Paul
Paul Dean

This thread was discussed between 20/07/2020 and 21/07/2020

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