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MG MGA - t-9 5 speed

I have 5000 miles on my transmission and it sounds like a beehive. The noise goes away if I keep my hand on the shifter. I lowered the body 1.0" because of too high leaf springs,is this the cause of the vibration? THANK-YOU JOHN
John Gordon

There is an anti-rattle spring at the bottom end of the gear lever - is it still there?
Art Pearse

I didn't see one ART, I will take out the shift lever tomorrow . Should there be pieces in the housing?
John Gordon

John, check the parts catalog first. Item 329-010 in Moss cat. Its where the bottom end of the stick fits into the selector rod. Not easy to get at. Maybe from a hoist? If you take out the stick it may be hard putting it back.
Art Pearse

Art

Are we getting confused here? The thread is titled for the Ford T9 5-speed box.

Steve
Steve Gyles

http://mjdtopsites.com/images/type_9-N_gearbox.pdf

This is a link to the manual for the ford gearbox, perhaps this will help you
dominic clancy

Sorry, didn't pick up on the title.
Art Pearse

THANK-YOU ART and DOMINIC. I am going to pull the engine and trans and send it for repair. After 28 yrs of working on this car,I'm tired of taking it apart. John
John Gordon

John,

Who are you sending your transmission to? I've just installed one (Sierra T-9) that makes an hellacious noise when the car is decelerating - sounds like the rear of the transmission is ready to grind itself into tiny fragments. This happens in all gears (maybe not reverse) and I'm afraid to use it.

Gene.
Gene Gillam

GENE, I'm not sure who to take it to. Mine is not that bad,just annoying. I can still drive the car, but for how long. I was told that my alignment with the driveshaft was off? MAYBE others will post a repair shop. JOHN
John Gordon

I'M thinking of fitting the ford 5 speed trans to my MGA and Was wondering if Hi Gear in the UK that does these modifications had experienced the problems being discussed. Clive.
c allen

Having driven 000s of kilometres with the ford 5 speed, I can only say that of it is properly installed it should not have problems. If the gearbox makes noises, it is down to being a past-its-best example. These gearboxes were hammered by sales reps all over Europe, and have a great reputation for being pretty hard wearing. If they are run dry, they die, but as a full syncro box they are MUCH better than the original, even without using the 5th gear.
dominic clancy

The only one I would trust a 5-speed trany to in the States is John Esposito at Quantum Mechanics Ltd. Phone:203-463-8299
David Werblow

David...

John Esposito has experience with the T9?

Gene
Gene Gillam

Gene, I bought my T-9 from John a couple years ago. As I understand it, he rebuilds T-9s then get's kits from Hi Gear. So yes, he's familiar with them. There is also a guy in Florida who does T-9s. Don't recall the name, but I could probably look it up.
Cheers,
Gerry
G T Foster

Gerry,

I bought mine from Hi-Gear several years ago but just installed it a couple of weeks ago. Getting it repaired in Florida would be cheaper than England so if you could find the info I'd appreciate it.

Gene
Gene Gillam

Gene,
Here's what I have:
Jim Hall
MG Five Speed Company
james hall <jimndeehall@att.net>;

Regards,
Gerry
G T Foster

Thanks Gerry...I actually know Jim!
Gene Gillam

As the same basic gearbox was also used in the 86 Merkur, 1989 Mustang 2.3 and probably a few other cars, I guess most transmission shops would be able to fix it
dominic clancy

I believe the '89 Mustang used a T5, not a T9.
Gene Gillam

Apparently the. 2.3 manuals were the t9, surprised me too. Apparently it is on the top end of the torque spec for the gearbox, so I expect many of them required a rebuild at some point.

The other 4 speed mustangs apparently used the t5 as you correctly indicate.
dominic clancy

Dominic,

Thanks...according to Wikipedia it was used in a lot of cars over here, not just the Mustang: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Type_9_transmission

Learn something new every day - I thought it was strictly the Merkur.

Gene
Gene Gillam

John,

bit of a longshot - but is there oil / enough oil in it? I bought a reconditioned unit for my conversion, only to find many years later when I first drove it that the gearbox was whining a lot, so I checked it out and it was bone dry! Sometime reconditioning only means mechanical, not a total overhaul.

all the best,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

FULL OF OIL GRANT, BUT THANK'S FOR THE INPUT!
John Gordon

John, I have 10,000 miles on my T 9 and it's started to make the same beehive vibration noise at 2600 rpm and it's worse on deceleration. It's there in all the gears but worse in 5th gear. I don't remember it making this noise previously. Even when it was "new" it was difficult to change from first to second without a notchy feel, like the synchros were worn out.

I thought the beehive noise might be an engine imbalance even though the engine was balanced when it was rebuilt at the same time as I installed the T9. So I replaced the MGB crankshaft vibration damper with the expensive one from Australia, but it made no difference.

I was going to remove the gear lever to see if there was anything obvious but if I hold my hand on the gear lever I still get the noisy vibration so I'll probably be wasting my time.

Please keep me informed of any progress.

Andy
1960 MGA Coupe
Andy Preston 1

My five speed vibrates upon deceleration in 5th gear and a little bit in 3rd. If it may make a little noise, but the engine over rides any of that. The vibration was there from day one. The shop who sold it to me, stop responding to my attempts for him to correct it. Basically he stated the place where he bought the tranny from may have only changed the front seal and gasket and cleaned it up, but nothing further. I rarely put it in 5th. I removed the driveline and push and pulled on the output shaft, seemed solid to me.
If you find out what the problem is, let us know.
Ray Ammeter

Ray,

I called John at Quantum Mechanix and he thinks it could be a bad rear bearing - wants me to ship the transmission up to him.

Checked with a local, old timey transmission shop and they want a minimum of $600 just to open it up and diagnose if there is a problem. I can't afford that.

They did mention that it was more than likely the rear end causing the noise and it being amplified by the transmission (?) - I do know there's some slop in the rear end so I'll pull it apart and get it back to specs, then see what happens.

Gene
Gene Gillam

I was reading through the copy of the shop manual supplied by Dominic in his earlier post on this subject and came across some interesting items.

Reading the second page in the manual about oil levels (and if I am reading it correctly) I may have too much oil in the tranny. The oil level depends on the build code/date and if fitted with a modified extension housing. Depending on this build code/date and if having a modified extension housing the oil level should be lower by almost an inch on earlier built 5 speeds. After May 1985 the oil should be just below the filler hole.
When I installed my 5 speed tranny, I was told to put the oil (Redline MT90)in until it came out the filler neck and that would be the correct level.

I don't have a clue if mine is a build code of: EC, FP, or E6 or has a modified extension housing. (Side note,the manual does state E6, but seems EG would be more appropriate.) As I said, when I filled my tranny I put it at the level of the bottom of the filler hole. May be the oil level should be lower. Does shift a bit stiff when cold, but no problem down shifting after a few miles.

Also further in the manual it gives a few fault diagnosis. One being if the the gearbox is noisy, when moving in all gears, it suggests mainshaft bearing wear, or oil level low or incorrect grade of oil.

Another fault diagnosis if the tranny is noisy in only one gear, it suggests the gear is worn, damaged or chipped gear teeth. A chipped gear tooth, may be what is wrong with my fifth gear. Ok when driving along, but as soon as I start to coast it makes a noise/vibration.

The manual also says, if the tranny needs replacement parts, it might be better to find another tranny. Suggesting just too costly to repair.
Ray Ammeter

Does the MGA T9 gearbox conversion have a modified gear-stick?

I ask because I have the Hi-Gear T9 ZA/ZB 5-speed kit fitted in my Magnette and it definitely does use a modified stick.

After a couple of thousand miles it developed the noise John Gordon describes which stopped if I rested my hand on the gear-stick.

I contacted Peter Gamble of Hi-Gear and he was aware of the problem - in fact he was able to offer an improved gear-stick which solved the problem for me.

Andy
Clacksman

THANK YOU ANDY, I also saw a small saddle that should be under the shifter that I don't have.(off-topic, I just got my birth certificate from GLASGOW. Have not been back for 50 years. Hopefully soon!) Alba gu Brath. John















John Gordon

Andy

" ...Does the MGA T9 gearbox conversion have a modified gear-stick?...." The answer is yes - twice. Peter converts the standard gear stick that was fitted to the Ford Sierra in the UK.

His first conversions back in the late 90s had a long throw requiring the gear box tunnel hole to be cut ovaloid(?). That is what I had to do in 2000. The long throw also introduced other problems. It stretched the rubber gear boot to its extremities in 3rd and 5th. Every time I took my foot off the throttle the boot pulled the lever into neutral. I ended up making an MGB style boot to compensate.

Later he either shortened the throw by reducing the arm length (shown by the arrows in my attached picture) or altered something (shortened the top end?) on the selector shaft - I cannot remember which, but I think it might have been the latter because the shaft also had a much improved bushing arrangement. I believe that obviated the need to cut the gearbox tunnel hole (others will confirm). I replaced my original stick with his latest version and found it a great improvement.

Steve


Steve Gyles

John and Andy,
There should be a plastic bush at the bottom of the gear lever on the FORD T9 gearbox. I bought two of these gearboxes, one for my roadster and one for my coupe, from a scrap yard, but both came without this plastic bush. So perhaps that is the source of your rattle.
Peter Gamble can supply this plastic part.
Peter.
P. Tilbury


Peter, I removed my gear lever and didn't see any plastic bush. The gear lever fork fitted snugly into a fitting on the sliding shaft so I don't see where and how a plastic bush would fit.

Does anyone have a photo of the plastic bush.

Thanks Andy
Andy Preston 1

ANDY, I have to assume that many of us have different type's of this trans. This is a picture of the part,but I also don't see how it fits. Does anyone have this in their's ? JOHN


John Gordon

Yes John,

My Magnette conversion uses that small plastic saddle which sits onto the selector shaft, and the fork at the bottom of the gear stick fits down over the saddle like the legs of a horserider.

However, that may not be the whole answer, as both versions of Peter Gamble's modified sticks need the plastic saddle, which is part of the original T9 gearbox design.

Yet, as I have already said, Peter's MkI stick rattled quite badly while the MkII was much better.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show you.

Andy
Andrew Dear

John (with image),
That's the part. It snaps over the selector shaft and the gear lever has a tab on the end of it (see Steve's image above)that slides into the slot in the side of the saddle.
I do not have a photo of its installation, but there is a good web site that shows all the T9 parts. Just do a web search on T9 gearboxes and their repair, and a British Company will pop up.
I think this part wears out or breaks and drops out of the gearbox extension, so you don't see it when it is not there (does that make sense?) I imagine it is there to prevent the metal to metal contact that will then result in the rattle John and Andy describe.
Peter.
P. Tilbury

This thread was discussed between 07/11/2013 and 09/12/2013

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