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MG MGA - MGB kingpin on MGA

I was thinking about doing this upgrade so I can get some better brakes. I've been doing some research, and apparently I just need the kingpins and have to shorted the steering arms by .5 inch and rethread them.

Someone said you have to use MGB hubs. Can I use my MGA hubs? Can I use my MGA bearings? If I must use MGB hubs, will my spinner caps work? I have wire wheels.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Darian
Darian Henderson

Darian, why do you think the brakes will be better? The calipers have the same pistons (apart from the old guide pin) so the braking pressure and effect will be the same. The only diff. is the cost of the rotors which are a bit more for the A. But not as much as your front end change will cost. If you really want to, I have some B front pins and swivels.
Art
Art Pearse

Art, I believe you can get a better choice of friction material for the pads.
Neil McGurk

If you have 1600 style MGA brakes changing to B brakes is not an upgrade in stopping power. The B wheels are 14 inch so the rotor diameter is smaller. A smaller diameter rotor will have less leverage hence less stopping power with the same pressure. The B setup is easier and cheaper to get parts for and would allow the use of B (14in) wheels. The B wheel bearing/ spindle set up is stronger.
R J Brown

Hi all,

I'd like to use the B kingpin because it is stronger and have other plans for the brakes; I want to put a Wilwood kit on.

Could I still put on A hubs on a B kingpin or would I also have to have B hubs?

Thanks,

Darian
Darian Henderson

There is an alloy adapter available from moss I think to allow you to install MGB calipers to MGA stub axels.

Mark Hester

Darian, the hub bearings are different. MGA uses ball bearings, MGB uses tapered rollers. So you need the hubs.
Art Pearse

Thanks, that's the info I was looking for. Will my spinner caps fit on MGB hubs?
Darian Henderson

Darian, the knock offs may or may not fit depending on the year of the donor B. A's and early Bs used a 12 turn per inch thread and the later Bs used an 8 turn per inch thread. Are you sure the Wilwood kit will clear wire wheels? I hadn't heard of one that would, most were designed for disc wheel cars.
The upper trunions on the B are not as wide as the ones on the A so either spacers will be needed or you can install B shocks with the arms reversed. Peter Caldwell at World Wide Import Parts can supply reversed arm shocks if you want to go that way.
Bill Young

Hi Bill,

I was thinking about using Bill Guzman's kit. He says it works with 14" wires, so I'm assuming they'd work with the 15" ones I have. Does this sound right to you?

Thanks,

Darian
Darian Henderson

I would verify with the kit manufacturer as to what would or would not fit. BUT. I believe the way to approach this is to consider it an A to B conversion with a Guzman brake kit added to a MGB. You would need early B hubs to fit the spinners. I have used World Wide B shocks reversed on my 58 MGA, good company to deal with.
R J Brown

Bill's kit should clear without problems. I have 15" wires mounted on my MGB hubs and brakes without any problems for my MGA front end.
Bill Young

Thanks, guys, I appreciate it.

Darian
Darian Henderson

This thread was discussed between 29/03/2009 and 31/03/2009

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