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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 Gear Box Bracket

When I fitted a Type 9 gear box to the TF I had to cut a piece of the cross member off. I belive current kits require the entire cross member to be cut out and replaced with a new, hefty, lowered one. If anyone is considering this they may wish to look at the MG midget General section of this site. A braket is now available which attaches to the gear box rear extension flange bolts. This allows the "pyramid", which takes the original Ford mounting rubber to be cut off and provides extra clearane around the cross member.

Jan T
J Targosz

Made to fit a T9 gearbox in Triumph engined Midget.





Alan Anstead

This is the High Gear rear mount for the 5 speed. The entire original mount is not removed, only approx. 8 inches. I have more pictures available if needed. High Gears directions are top shelf! PJ


PJ Jennings

Another picture. PJ


PJ Jennings

It's several years since I converted my TF and it is now with a new owner. I can not remember exactly what was involved but I certainly did not cut out the tubular cross member. I have seen the large castings that are available to replace the cross member but thought that if a bracket similar to the one Alan shows could be fabricated it would be a cheaper and more elegant fix.

Jan T
J Targosz

Jan, did you have to move the engine forward when you did the transmission? If you did, that was how it was done in the beginning of the kit a few years ago, now that kit has been eliminated and with the newer kit the engine doesn't move from the original position so no need to go through the process, which was a pain. PJ
PJ Jennings

Hi PJ

I bought a new bell housing from Andy King and fabricated the rest myself. I did have to move the engine foreward by just a wisker and made up a new mounting. A friend who had also bought one of Andy's bell housing found it wasn't necessary to move the engine on his TD. I remember both of us cutting off angle brackets from the cross member and welding on a flat plate to attach the Ford mount. It is possible my fried attached the plate with U bolts since he doesn't have welding gear. I don't remember which part of the Ford box fouls the cross member, If it is the rear extension flange I can see why the engine has to be moved forewards or the cross member cut. The problem with my Sprite was the pyramid on the back of the box which the rubber mount fits to. The bracket Allan shows enables this to be cut off and then there is plenty of room without modifying the structure of the car.

I don't know what the availabity of Type 9s is in the states. Over here they are becomming scarce and expensive. Spares are available but costly.

Did you fit a drain plug?


Cheers

Jan
J Targosz

No Jan I didn't fit a drain plug. I use a vacuum pump to pull the oil out if needed. PJ
PJ Jennings

Some time ago I made a housing 12 mm, shorter than standard and ground the shaft to fit. Therby the engine could rmain in its original position.

I also converted another gearbox gearbox to fit XPAG engines. That is for sale if iterested.





YS Strom

Hi YB,

A very interesting post. How did yoy fabricate the bell housing? Did you cut pieces from the MG and Ford and weld together or, as I suspect from the welds, cut sections of flat plate? How did you ensure proper alighment? Did you use aluminium or steel?

Really intriguing what is the gearbox you show in your second picture. Ford Type 9s are becoming hard to find and are not as good as modern Japanese ones e.g. Mazda MX5 or Suzuki Jimney. I know new cases have been cast for MG Bs to take Maxda internals.

Did you modify the position of the gear leaver with your Type 9 conversion? On my TF I bolted a 2" plate to the leaver to move it back and if the box is moved forwards the plate will have to be longer. I allways thought the plate spoilt the action of the leaver. On my Midget I sawed off part of the rear extension and rewelded it further forewards. Alighment was easy but welding wasn't. Ford used very poor quality aluminium for the cases and after being soaked in oil for years, even with TIG an attractive weld was imposssible.

Cheers

Jan
J Targosz


Hi Jan

Housing for T9 is made of steel plates, cut to size with water jet.

Just heated the shift and bent it to the right position.

A friend of mine have a number of T9 for sale. But I have to take them out myself. I guess you are a bit too far awy for doing that. If you give an offer I can ask him if he is prepared to do it for you. We can have it checked by an gearbox expert so we know it will be ok.

Aligment for T9 was made in a milling machine with digital scale after measuring the original housing.

For the BMW I made the plate with a center piece with a hole to fit around the pipe around the shaft. This was then cut away after it had been welded to the gearbox.

The BMW has no conection for the speedo. But GPS types are rather sheap.

Regards






YS Strom

Hi YB,

I have now completed converting my TF and Sprite to Type 9 5 speeds so don't need another box. I didn't want to pay for expensive kits so made up all the parts myself apart from bell housings. I only have a Myford lathe so fabricating them would have been difficult. I am allways interested in how others did the job. What type of BMW does the gear box come from? Does it have a separate bell housing or did you have to modify the case? I see you have machined the bell housing from aluminium billet - it looks very good! How do the ratios compare with the MG?

I rebuilt both type 9 boxes myself. It was a pleasant engineering job apart from separating the thick, mid spacer plate from the bearing in the main case. Managed it eventually.

Cheers

Jan
J Targosz

Hi again Jan

Picture of support with original Ford rubber cussion.



YS Strom

Hi Jan

Interesting

Cannot remember what kind of BMW it cames from. But it is meant for engines near 200 hp if I remember correctly. Gear ratios are also unknown to me.

It had not a seperate bell housing. But it had to be shortened before welding the new aluminum housing to it.

You mentioned that you were interested in how others do. Enclose som pics of some home made front and side mounted SC conversions.

For side mounting I lately used a slightly shorter SC. Thereby the horn need not to be mowed.

Best regards






YS Strom

If i do it again I will grind off the gear box a little where it will interfere with the cross member and cut out a short 90 deg. section of the cross member and replace that part with a piece of flat steel welded in as replacement. That will give enough room to keep the engine in its original position.
YS Strom

This thread was discussed between 17/01/2025 and 25/01/2025

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.