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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 - MGA Twin Cam History

With the increase in the use of the Internet there is much more information recorded about the MGA.
However, a lot of it is incorrect.
There is an article on the mga twin cam which helps to create false beliefs.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/MGA/mgatwine.html

I have tried to contact the author without success to allow changes.
Some examples:
The Morris engine Branch designed a new Twin Cam engine from first principles and Austin built one based on the MGA pushrod engine. The opposite is true.
50 MGA Twin Cams were exported to the USA when it was really over 1000.
Melting pistons were caused by spark plugs and ignition timing when in fact it was a fuel problem (this is partly corrected later in the article).
The half speed shaft drives only the oil pump where in fact it also drives the tachometer.
The valves are at an angle of 45 degrees when in fact they are at 40 degrees.
It uses a double ended SU fuel pump when it in fact it is a high pressure single ended type.
The gear on the half speed shaft and oil pump drive spindle were changed to speed up the pump when it was actually to reduce wear. The numbers of teeth quoted for this change are also incorrect.
The distributor drive gear wears because of the type of design whereas a factory service bulletin attributes this to incorrect fitting.

And so on.....

Mick
M F Anderson

Such inaccuracies to those who know better, such as you clearly do Mick, are irritating, I Just had a glance at the article. At the bottom of the article the author refers to "Bill 'S' who racers (!!) MGA Twin Cams in the USA". This is probably Bill Spohn. (Bill's also engineered an MGA Twin Cam head onto an MGB 1800 block!). Maybe it would be worth trying to reach the author through Bill. Bill's email is:wspohn4@aol.com
T Aczel

Good catch, Mick. I also hate inaccuracies, especially in a page likely to be a source for new owners looking for information.

And especially on a page where I am being cited as a source!
Bill Spohn

Steve Gyles,
You have a line in to the MGCC, can you raise the inaccuracies with them? I will raise it with the MGA Register also.

Mark Hester,
Can you flag it with Frank Burry?

Between us three we ought to be able to get this corrected.

regards
Colin
C Manley

Bearing in mind it is this website, has anyone contacted the webmaster?

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve,

An email has been sent to the the address shown at the bottom of the page at the URL quoted in message number one.
There has been no reply.
I would certainly like to discuss it with them.
I only quoted samples of errors, there are more.

Mick
M F Anderson

Mick

I have emailed the Webmaster and asked him to read the thread and respond to you.

Let's see what happens.

Steve
Steve Gyles

The author of this article, Neil Cairns, is a well known and respected MG author and authority, especially with the "Y" types. He can be contacted through the Y Register of the MG UK Club.
His email is n.cairns650@btinternet.com

I'm sure that Neil will only be to keen to amend the article.
Gary Lock

The webmaster (Mike Plumstead) responded to me and is trying to contact Neil Cairns.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hi Gary,

I sent emails to Neil Cairns and also the webmaster for the page.
I did not get any replies.
I would always contact the author privately before going public.
In this case it does not seem possible.

Mick
M F Anderson

I do not know Mr Cairns but his comments seem partly true. The sad truth is that while the twin-cam was an interesting attempt, it was unreliable (and costly to repair), as any knowledgable MG enthusiast will know! It had to be enlarged to 1600cc's and the subsequent 1600 pushrod cars went nearly as well up to 70mph. Bearing in mind that open-road speed limits are almost invariably about that, pushrod cars seem quite practical. I had a "twinny" many years ago but my 1600 cars (coupe and roadster) suit me! I have been driving my coupe today (I have had it for 35 years), it keeps up with modern traffic and handles well.
Barry Bahnisch

Barry,

Once the original problems were solved, by the owners and others it was a very reliable car.
There are many cars today with very large mileages with perfect reliability.
Some of these cars are still being raced in competition in North America, after over 50 years of use.
There are over 350 cars on the Twin Cam owners website even though only just over 2000 were built.
The problems were all early in the life of the car and BMC failed to rectify them until it was too late.
This is one of the reasons that these articles need to corrected.

Mick
M F Anderson

Neil Cairns has responded to Mike Plumstead and I note that Mike has forwarded it to Mick Anderson. My job is done. I know nothing about the Twin Cam and even less about politics (MG type politics). The rest I leave with you guys.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Mick, I do not disagree with anything you say, its just that by the late-1950's owners expected reliability with the new cars they bought (without resort to private mechanics and suchlike). There seemed to be a scramble to improve performance of English cars to maintain their reputation (I am something of an English car "enthusiast", all of my cars, some dozen or so, are English) that they could keep up with the "opposition". In their rush to market them they did not seem to be properly "sorted", hence their reputation for poor reliability. For many years we had a Triumph Dolomite Sprint in the family, another case in point. The twin-cam MG engine did not go ahead, nor did the sixteen valve Dolomite Sprint engine in the subsequent "sporting" TR7.
Barry Bahnisch

Barry, the reliability issue aside (it was caused by management insisting on mass production before sufficient testing had been done - see http://www.rhodo.citymax.com/f/HOW_TO_KEEP_A_TWIN_CAM_FROM_BURNING_PISTONS.pdf if you have the time), the twin Cam was an entirely different sort of car than the 1600.

If you ever get the chance to drive a well tuned Twin Cam, you'll realize that there is no comparison whatsoever. The 1600 engine was another plodder. The Twin Cam revelled in high RPM and could be kept above 4500 especially with the close ratio gear box and was just getting into the sweet area when the pushrod was starting to gasp.
Bill Spohn

This thread was discussed between 16/12/2011 and 03/01/2012

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.