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 - twin cam for sale

Hi all seems like a nice twin cam on ebay Item number: 250087314671 anyone happen to know the car before I might bid on it

many thanks Gordon
g c pugh

It looks like an excellent car Gordon - good luck if you bid but I suspect the reserve is going to be well in excess of £25k ; one of our club members has a similar one ( but perhaps not quite as good) and that is what he values his at. Cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

Hi Cam I expect you are right it will end up out of my price range, it does look superb though
g c pugh

Gordon

If you want performance, add a Supercharger and stir! You'll eat TCs (and Healeys) for breakfast for a fraction of the cost.

If you just want a TC then get bidding...

Dominic
dominic clancy

Hi all anyone agree with me that the seats appear to be from a coupe rather than from a roadster or were these correct for a CKD car

Gordon
g c pugh

I had the same thought as Gordon. Reading Clausager it implies the deluxe seats (excluding Mk II deluxes) were supplied as an option. So a TC should either have standard roaster or deluxe but not coupe seat coverings. Then again, perhaps CKD assembly mixed it up a bit!

Does look a very nice TC though.

Peter
P Wright

Being very picky now, but it is advertised as concourse , I thought it was only very early cars that had the cover fasterners along the top of the doors, my 1500 is also 59 car and doesn't have them, it couldalso do with the correct door seals as from Clarkespares, and there does not appear to be any tool kit, the hood also looks to be a cheap one, shame when they obviously spent a lot on the restoration, I think I am only trying to make myself feel better about not being allowed to bid, my wife has just reminded me that our bedroom needs redoing and that she is entiled to half of everything in the resulting divorce should I wish to bid, of course it is up to me lol

gordon
g c pugh

It is a shame that a so called classic car restorer/ dealer does not understand the difference between Concours and a concourse! I can be picky too :)
Bob (robert) yes I own an MG Dwarf!

Under market price, it says reserve set at or around £19. So no excuse for not bidding!
For my part I would like to see a few more underneath photo's, as at that price it needs to have had a body off restro, but no specific mention of that.
Henry

Yes, a twin cam roadster should either have standard or competition deluxe seats, not seats from a coupe. As far as the fasteners along the top of the doors, it was changed at twin cam number 994 to the later style with no steering wheel bump.
This all comes from Clausager.
Mitch Smith

Would you be able to get a new engine if it blew up?
I think I would go down Dominics route and fit a supercharger to a standard car.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CONCOURSE-Standard-MGA-MG-A-Twin-Cam-1959_W0QQitemZ250087314671QQihZ015QQcategoryZ29757QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Robert
R J Collier

Hi Dom and Rob there is just something about the twin cam I would not want to mess around with my current A.
As I said earlier my fancies the twin cam schrieber bedroom unit

Gordom
g c pugh

Many Twin-Cam engine parts are now available, (like regular A's, more all the time) with new cylinder heads on the horizon. Certainly enough to rebuild "blown-up" engines.
There, I hope that removed that excuse not to bid!

Cheers,
Rich
Rich McKIe

I agree with Rich about there being more and more twin cam parts available or being manufactured all the time. I understand that early MGB blocks can be modified to fit the twin cam head, TR6 pistons can be machined down to fit, new pin drive wheels are being made, etc, etc, etc
But, seeings how I have a wife, much like Gordons, i will have to pass on the bidding and be more than satisfied with my "59 driver twin cam"

cheers, and good luck to all who ( or can afford to ) bid!
Mitch Smith

Why would it have such a strange engine number?
A Twin Cam engine should have the format 16GB/U/1234.

Mick
Mick Anderson

The following information is from the Production History of the mga twin cam as published by the MG CAr Club.

YDH51698: Right Hand drive completely knocked down roadster, Black upholstery, Black Hood.
Engine is listed as (16GBU)1345 which is consistant with other cars produced about the same time.

Poduction started March 18, 1959.
Car completed April 3, 1959.
Car dispatched April 4, 1959

Ash Tray
Competition Deluxe Seats. (The seats on this car aren't the deluxe seats.)
Two Fog lights
Oil Cooler
Sliding Side Screen (Most likely those used with a hardtop.)
Tonneau Cover, Black
Twin Horns
Windscreen Washers

Owner was listed as J. Plastow, ZA

REgards,
Blake J. Urban
Bullwinkle

Hi Blake many thanks for all that info it was very interesting,

regards gordon
g c pugh

Asa point of interest there are quite a few twincam items for sale on the us ebay at the moment

gordon
g c pugh

A few questions:

Can you get Competition seats anywhere these days? Could they be dupicated by modifying some other seats (MGA or MGB) and buying the covers?

Would a heater have been optional on a CKD South African Twin Cam?

Is the car number consistent with the 1500 style indicators?

Thanks,
John.
John Prewer

Gordon,

Shhhhhhh!
Rich McKIe

John Prewer:

I've seen "Deluxe" seats listed as repro somewhere. Check Anglo parts in Belgium. I also may have seen them from Scarboreau Faire or Victoria British in the US. I think I've also read that MGB frames can be modified to almost duplicate the deluxe frames. I think the deluxe seats use a diaphram like the MGB units.

The 1600 body style started with chassis 2193.

Regards,
Blake
Bullwinkle

Sorry Rich I promise I won't tell anyone lol

gordon
g c pugh

think that moss can supply complete seats at quite a cost.
g c pugh

New repo competition deluxe seats are available through Jim Alcorn (Auto Vintagery) and Victoria British in the US and NTG in England. There may be other sources as well. VB also sells the bare CD frames that can be custom covered by Heritage or others.

Steve
Steve Brandt

Mitch - nagative on the use of TR6 pistons unless you want 7.5 compression.

Pistons are the EASIEST parts to get as you can have them custom made - I've done that on several engines including my Twincam race motor.
Bill Spohn

I got the bit about TR6 pistons from a site that listed alternate parts you can use on your Brit cars. They did forget to mention that you would drop the CR to that low. Can't find the site right now, but i also thought you could use MGB pistons? Did you have to modify the wrist pins? Or was it MGB con rods.
I guess my point is that there are lots of ways to keep a twin cam running. Even the "hard to get parts" can be substituted or as Bill did with pistons, you can have them custom made.
Mitch Smith

The Twin-cam has a Hemi head and the pistons have a pronounced dome to them, totally unlike any other MG pistons. It is surprising just how few Pushrod MGA engine parts will interchange with the Twin-Cam.

Rich
Rich McKIe

Venolia lists twin cam pistons. I put a set in a 60 1600 a few years back. The quality was excellent.
R J Brown

Rich, the high compression pistons have a pronounced dome on them, the low compression twin cam pistons are pretty flat. But I do agree about not many engine parts being interchangeable.
Mitch Smith

Mitch,
Do you come over to the mainland for the All British Field Meet?
I will be there this year with my ZA.

Cheers,
Rich
Rich McKIe

Rich, yes i have been there twice now and hoping to go again this year.
(car permitting)
Not too many ZA's around, you should be easy to find!

cheers,

Mitch
Mitch Smith

Mitch, the low compression Twincam pistons have quite a dome on them - I assure you that they are not even remotely near being flat.

No pushrod piston will be suitable for use in a hemispherical chambered head - even if they were 13:1 pop-ups from a racing SCCA MGB - because the crown shape is totally wrong.

It is not just about filling up the combustion chamber, it is about doing it in such a way that the flame front doesn't go off BANG on you and ruin all that good work you just put in.


Whoever told you that TR6 pistons would fit was peddling snake oil. The TR6 has a bore of only about .040" smaller, but the compression height is all wrong and the piston was made for an engine with a stroke 6mm longer.

IF you DID succeed in installing them, you would have an engine with a compression ratio of 5.6:1 instead of 9.9 or 8.3

As having custom pistons made is trivial, I don't know whay anyone spreads these pointless rumours (not you, the guy you got the info from).

Having said all that, I do know of one Twincam built with a piston substitution - they used Alfa (which also suit a hemispherical chamber) although the silly buggers had to sleeve the engine down to fit them (a generally bad idea) as the Alfa chosen by them had a smaller bore size.
Bill Spohn

Guys, one problem with real competition seats. There is significantly less room than with regular seats. Most people (unless they are jockeys) will not want them.

Mitch, Rich - see you at Van Dusen. Will bring the Jamaican and the Interceptor
Bill Spohn

Bill, thanks for setting me straight on that. I was using a picture of low comp twin cam pistons but not a very good picture, as it looked fairly flat on the top, but looking at it closer ( that means with my glasses on ) that it is domed with valve cut outs, just not as domed as the high compression ones. I might pick your brain about pistons though as I always equated custom pistons with giving up my first born.......

I have seen some of the Jamaican pics you have posted, and looking forward to seeing it there.

Cheers guys, and thanks for the knowledge!

Mitch
Mitch Smith

Looking forward to meeting you all at Van Duesen. We expect to have 4, maybe 5 Magnettes there this year.
Mine is the plain-Jane Old English White ZA.
I missed out on all of the Twin-Cam parts that were on E-pay. The guys with the fat wallets were out in force. I was mainly after the timing assembly backplate and cover but got outbid. I was the high bidder on the (cheaper) head but it didn't make reserve. I was going to use them for a (very) long term project with an 1800 block.

Cheers,
Rich
Rich McKIe

Hi Rich have you seen twin cam cylinder head on ebay only "$4000"


gordon
g c pugh

Reading all the comments on the virtuually unobtainable engine parts for the Twin Cam has brought me to the conclusion that Twin Cams are worth their high price in relation to other MGAs.

But for me the high price of an engine rebuild/new engine would sacrifice usability. I know that there are others including a member of my local club who use their Twin cams regularly, but to me one of the main attractions of the MG is the affordability of parts and simple mechanics.
Robert
R J Collier

If anyone needs any "reasons" not to bid in addition to bedroom decoration priorities and coupe seats (roadster pair for restoration just added to eBay, but in US!), here's my tuppence worth:

- PVC (loose) cable harness
- Spare wheel cover missing and incorrect clamp.
- No tool kit, jack etc.
- No tool roll and straps
- Cheap and nasty hood
- incorrect floorboard fixings
- You cannot look the chap in the eye when you say it's a genuine UK car (original RHD though!)

OK, still nit picking, but actually I'm also tempted, so I'm only trying to convince myself.

Most of you will remember there was a very nice TC on eBay a few months back, original UK car "sure concours winner" in my view better than this one. I think it had a 25,000 buy it now?

I was the highest bidder, but it didn't make the reserve or even my bid (it only reached about 16,000 if I remember) So I will be surprised if this goes much higher.

Neil
Neil McGurk

Hi Neil I remember the car it was a lovely one certainly more correct than the one on ebay , nice though that is.

gordon
g c pugh

This twin cam is being sold by a company called Bailey Classic Cars and it might interest anybody who is thinking of bidding on this car to hear the following. I am interested (or rather was) in a Morris Minor Traveller they are selling. I asked them a couple of questions - what colour was the car and was it the original colour. The reply I received was 'Blue,yes'. I sent another email asking them if they were kidding and that I could see it was blue and repeated my questions - what is the name of the colour and was it original. The reply was 'Good idea. There are plenty of other cars on the market feel free to buy one of those'. Make of all that what you will but I wouldn't go near them.
Phil

Hi Phil, how are you SFO is still going well, didn't bid on twin cam have you still got your A

Gordon
g c pugh

twin cam up to £22500 just over an hour left
g c pugh

gone for £22589
g c pugh

This thread was discussed between 23/02/2007 and 04/03/2007

MG MGA index

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