MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

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 - Need a Rebuilt MG MGA 1600 Twin Cam Gearbox?

Anyone on this forum near NJ in the market for a rebuilt MGA 1600 Twin Cam gearbox? If so, please see my advertisement in the Parts for Sale section.


Steve K

Just for info - a local gearbox rebuilder here in OZ recently had a fully reconditioned Twin Cam close ratio gearbox for sale for $A3,400.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Mike, Thanks for the info. The one I rebuilt has standard gears, and I'm asking $900 USD. The $A3,400 converts to about $2,500 USD. The close ratio gear set is certainly rarer; however, I'm not sure what the current street price is for a used close ratio gear set and whether it accounts for the asking price in OZ. The effort in the rebuild is identical.

For sure even a conventional MGA gearbox rebuilt by a name parts house goes for well above $1000 USD. Except for the occasional gearbox like this one, I rebuild the boxes for my own recreational use and don't have the overhead of a for-profit business. Presently I'm cleaning out my shop of things I don't have a planned use for to free up some space.
Steve K

Steve,
The price to dismantle and reassemble an MGA gearbox here varies from $A320-450 plus parts.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Hi Guys,

Good thread. Steve, I think your gearbox should go pretty quickly, sounds like a great deal!

Mike, Could you please recommend a good shop for a 1600 gearbox rebuild in Victoria.

Ben
B Rollo

Ben,
Send me an email and I will get back to you.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Be aware that if you are a purist or concours type, the Twin Cam used a different front case from the pushrod cars. They used an undrilled Magnette housing.

That means you'd have to have yours rebuilt.
Bill Spohn

Ben, Thanks for the feedback.

Bill, I'm not sure to whom your comment is addressed. Indeed, the Twin Cam mainbox has distinct features compared to the one used on the pushrod engines. As the image I posted shows, the gearbox I'm selling is a 1600 Twin Cam with the undrilled clutch boss (on top) and the box shaped protrusion on the mainbox. The rear extension corresponds to the 1600 including the Twin Cam.

Steve
Steve K

Steve,
I guess that Bill's comment was for MGA people in general, advising them of the differences between the Twin Cam and pushrod gearbox casings (the internals are the same).
The Twin Cam has an unused slave cylinder boss at the top of the casing. Sometimes the boss has two holes and sometimes no holes, but they are never threaded.
The Magnette gearbox also has this boss, which is fitted with a slave cylinder. However the Twin Cam does not have a hole for the vertical operating lever of the Magnette. This area is blanked off.
The Twin Cam box also has two distinct bulges on the sides.
Attached is an image that shows these features on the Twin Cam gearbox.

Mick


M F Anderson

Mick,

Thanks for the follow-up. Mine is the undrilled Twin Cam. Attached is another view.

Steve


Steve K

Your pic wasn't coming up so I couldn't tell if you had a Twin Cam or pushrod case, and I couldn't tell from your terminology - '1600 Twin Cam' isn't normal usage and could have indicated that you simply had a gearbox that fit pushrod or Twin Cam.

I think your price is very good and you should sell it quickly.
Bill Spohn

Bill,

Thank you for your clarification and supportive feedback. Sorry you had difficulty downloading the photograph. (I had checked immediately after my initial posting and didn't have a problem, so I assumed it was OK.) If you have a problem with seeing the photos or would like additional information about the posting, please let me know.

If I can simplify my description of this gearbox to encompass all Twin Cams that would be great. Do you happen to know whether or not any of the early (1958) Twin Cams (541/2111) or 1958 MGA 1500 Series production (16122/58750), used a gearbox rear extension other than the one found on the Twin Cam specimen I've posted? From what I deduce from the MG Series MGA Service Parts List (2nd Edition) and Clausager's Original MGA, the cutover to the fixed rear flange took place in late 1956, but I'm not certain.

Steve
Steve K

I have a twin Cam gearbox in my garage taken from my MK2 Coupe when I replaced with a 5 speed. I was told this was a standard fit on the MK 2 ?
Paul
P D Camp

There was a gearbox change in September 1956 going to a slightly larger sliding spline output shaft. The Twin Cam box always had the flanged output. Pushrod cars got the flanged output and high starter position in January 1959 along with the 15GD engine. There were five different gearboxes used in MGA. The last one came with the 1600-MK-II, having a thicker bolt flange on the bellhousing and more external ribbing (to reduce noise), but otherwise same internal bits. See here:
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/gearbox/gt101.htm
Barney Gaylord

Barney,

Thanks for confirming and narrowing down the date of the cutover to the flanged output.

Twin Cam sans 1600 gearbox it is!

Steve
Steve K

This thread was discussed between 09/05/2009 and 15/05/2009

MG MGA index

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