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MG MGA - rubber gear box mount

In order to gain road registration for my 1600 roadster, I need to replace the perished rubber gear box mount. Can this be done without removing the gear box from the car? It seems like a mountain of work to pull the transmission out of the vehicle when everything else is humming along happily. If this 'in-situ' replacement can be done, does anyone have any tips ?
Greg Neville

Greg, there may be ways of gaining access to the mounting without removing the power unit, but I think it would involve more work than pulling the engine. The job would be very difficult to do, if not impossible lying on your back under the car! Barney has some instructions for removing and re-fitting the mounting on his web site. The best way to remove the old one is to remove the rubber and the inner sleeve by drilling and cutting and then hacksaw through the steel outer sleeve to relieve the tension of the interference fit so that can be driven out. Check the outer diameter of you new bush, I had to get mine machined as it was too big to fit! Re-fitting requires (unless you have a press) driving in with a heavy hammer and a suitable drift and good support for the gearbox "eye", as it is possible to break this if you are not careful, again, Barney's site has all this instruction including the correct dimensions for the new bush. So you can see why it would be difficult to do in-situ! Really, pulling the engine is not that big a job on these little cars.
Go for it! Lindsay.
Lindsay Sampford

Thanks Lindsay. Barney's instructions are helpful. The MGA rubber gear box mounting must differ from earlier MGs and other vehicles with similar transmissions attached to B series motors. My friends with these vehicles were suggesting it would be a simple in-situ job.
Greg Neville

Yes Greg, others are easier. I had a ZA Magnette and the set up there consisted of a metal clamp arrangement that bolted through the gearbox eye and provided a bracket on each side to which bolted a pair of rectangular rubber engine mounts. the outside of these two mounts bolted to two brakets on a detachable transmission tunnel cross member. Dead easy to change them! The MGA is a different matter.
Lindsay Sampford

This thread was discussed between 12/11/2009 and 14/11/2009

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