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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 TD TF 1500 - 5 Speed Conversion Transmission

Has anyone on the list tried one of these ?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MG-TD-TF-5-Speed-Conversion-Kit-MGTD-mgtf_W0QQitemZ4593458795QQcategoryZ10076QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Dallas Congleton

I just saw it also. Pretty much the same first four gears but then the 5th for overdrive! Perfect right? Looked really nice except it's a little beyond pricey.
D Clark

I think this is the same transmission the MGA guys have been using. They also have the advantage of a better rear end ratio.
I don't know what a rebuilt Ford Sierra transmission cost, but the other items do not appear to be very expensive- must be the cost of the "engineering".
Dallas Congleton

I have just ordered and received a Sierra kit for my TD from Autogear in the UK <http://www.autogear.co.uk> and the price I got was 1500 pounds. Yeah - it's pricey - but I'm willing to give it a shot. Jim Kassim is the fellow at Autogear who I bought the trans from, and he knows his stuff. Is it cheaper than this eBay kit - a little, I'd guess, after factoring in all of my costs - but the difference is that Jim at autogear is the one who's actually building these kits. How will it fit and work - ask me in the spring when all of the grunt work is done... OD is the kit I bought is .82.
Dave Jorgensen

Dave,

I’m not sure I agree with you. I believe the original 5-Speed conversion for the TD/TF was engineered by Peter Gamble who owns Hi-Gear Engineering in Derbyshire.

I personnlly met with him and he showed me the beautiful kit he engineered which includes a new bell-housing and gearbox cover. Some of the other parts, he was making at his works, but these two items were contracted-out. There may be more kits on the market, and Autogear may be one of them - I don’t know. My guess is that Autogear are re-selling the Hi-Gear kit.

Peter was partially instrumental in the re-introduction and re-manufacture of the Ford Sierra type 9 gearbox which by the way, comes with a selection of ratios, some of which are intended for racing. The ratios standard for the TD/TF are 1st - 3.65; 2nd - 1.97; 3rd - 1.37; 4th - 1:1; 5th - .82.

My main objection (of two, the other being cost) was that the installation requires moving the entire engine/gearbox forward by 10mm (abt..41"). Despite requiring a structural chassis mod, on the TD this presents no problem, but on the TF, since the rad is already closer to the engine than on the TD, it is necessary to fit a modified fan spacer, which is standard in the TF kit (and I might add, adds £30 to the TD price). So you may want to use this opportunity to install the 8-blade MGB plastic fan which is a far better option than the standard TD/TF “hand-cutter”.

The Hi-Gear kit comes with 22 parts, all nicely packaged and you won’t be disappointed. And while the kit does include modified Speedo gears, you will still have to have your speedo modified to suit, as the TD and TF have different final drives, and this is all explained in the doc package. They recommend returning the speedo to Richfields, but I had mine cleaned by the authorised Smith (Speedo) agent in the US - Nisonger in NY, and they did a good job - saved a lot of shipping time and money, too.

Hi-Gear sell it either as a package or as separate - the install kit at £795, and the gearbox at £495. This will probably land it at your front door for abt. $3,000 CAD.

In the meantime, I am trying to find a less expensive solution for the 5-speed TD/TF. Bud Kruger has graciously hosted my chart to show ratios and some dimensions (http://www.ttalk.info/gearbox_options.htm). But obviously, I am still missing some dimension. Once I have this data, I will find out where some of these 5-speed jobbies can be purchased at reasonable costs. Right now, it seems the Mazda Miata 5-speed is the most viable package, but I have a lot of work to do. This project is a WIP- stand by.

Regards,

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A. Clark

... one thing I forgot to add.

If you are planning scouring the breakers yards for a Sierra gearbox, forget the Sierra box that came with the Sierra XR4Ti 2.8 litre. While this was a fantastic V6 engine, the gearbox had an out-put shaft too long to fit the Hi-Gear kit. The Hi-Gear kit requires a 4-cyl Sierra gearbox ONLY.

As far as I know, the only Sierra exported to America and to Canada, was the Ford Sierra XR4Ti 4-door, and I don't believe any other Sierra model was (legally) exported to this side of the pond - so don't waste your time looking.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A. Clark

My 2 cents....I've had the Hi-Gear 5 speed in the TD for 2 years and still don't know why I waited so long! You can scour the breaker yards for all the bits & pieces that you want...in the end, I bet you won't save much (figure in your time!) over a Hi-Gear product. The package arrives ready to install...soup to nuts, nothing was missing...a well done product.
Robert Dougherty

Can I please make two points.

Firstly the Octagon Bulletin March 2003 has an excellent article about the use of the Ford gear box in a T series. It gives details of the different types of box, a table showing the ratios in all gears for difference models of box and details of the differing input shafts. Also the current Classics magazine has a write up on the use of 5 speed gear boxes in A Series midgets. This covers Ford, Toyota and Datsun boxes. Its very interesting.

Secondly a word of caution. I have had to buy an original OHC engine for one of my prewar MGs. It cost me over 1500. I have seen an article in an early 1960s Practical Motorist where the writer explains how to fit a Ford engine into a MG J2. This was a popular conversion in the 1960s. He explains he was able to off set the cost of the the conversion by selling the original engine for 10! I think the wise will be buying original T series boxes and storing them for the time when owners wish to convert back to original. I own a TD because of its 1950's character. When I want 2005 convenience I use my Mazda MX5 - and thats got six gears !


Cheers


Jan T
Jan Targosz

We have had some really interesting discussions about "stock vs nonstock" over the year(s) I have been on the forum...
The TD is a really interesting model of exported MG... a car that was designed for the North American market, yet misdesigned (sp) at the same time. Sending a car to NA with the same gearing as the TC, but 15" wheels instead of 19" was quite the choice... I can certainly understand owners in the 50's thinking a larger engine was needed.
There is nothing as sweet as an XPAG humming along at 3500 rpm...however, 52 mph when your roads are straight and 2000 miles long isn't quite so rewarding...in fact, it can be downright tiring.
If, God forbid, I lost an engine, I think a 1500/1600 MGA would be a great replacement with the 4.3 gears. My '60 MGA coupe was a fabulous daily driver back in the '60s... took it on all sorts of long trips.... taking the TD on the same drives takes a lot of preparation and sometimes gritting of teeth to prepare for the constant reach for shifting into a higher gear that isn't there.
As long as major chassis changes aren't made and future owners can put things back to stock (or how they want)... seems to me whatever the owner wants to do is fine (well, V8's are a bit of overkill) ....
gordon lawson

This thread was discussed between 25/11/2005 and 30/11/2005

MG TD TF 1500 index

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