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MG MGA - Timing cover

Some of you may remember my last thread 'black gunge' and many thanks for all the useful replies. This is the solution to the problem of the leaking timing cover oil seal that was causing all the mess and may be useful to somebody out there. I obtained a Morris Marina timing cover (from Bob West here in the UK) as these are apparently easier to come by than MGB ones. These have the rubber type of oil seal which are much more oil tight than the original felt seals that were used in all MGA's apart from the very last 1600 Mk 2s. Fitting the Marina cover involves grinding off the timing marks as these are in a completely different place. You just need to cut off the timing marks from the old cover with a grinder and weld them to the new cover (or as I did stick with chemical metal). It's a fairly straightforward job although the bottom bolts on the cover are a little tricky - a small wobbly extension bar helps here. Any way I have now covered quite a few miles and all seems to be completely oil tight. I replaced the water pump at the same time as this was also leaking slightly and it makes sense while everything else is out of the way.

Cheers all,
Phil Parmenter
P Parmenter

By the way you also need a different type of oil thrower - it's more or less a flat disc, but does have a small area that protrudes just slightly. It has an F on one side that has to face the front of the car. Anyway its different from the original 1500 one that is concave in shape.
P Parmenter

Phil

Out of curiosity where were the timing marks on the Marina cover? Before I fitted an 1800 engine I fitted the the MGB timing cover to my 1500 engine. The marks on this cover were on the top of the pulley rather than the bottom which, If I recall correctly (someone will tell me if I am wrong), meant taking the timing reference off number 3 instead of 1.

The advantage of the MGB cover plate, other than the oil seal, is that all the timing can be done from the engine compartment. You don't need to lie on the floor and look up at the pulley.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Marina timing marks were approx at 8 o'clock
P Parmenter

The later 1500 Riley engines also have the later stile timing cover seal and the flatter oil slinger. The timing marks are at 10 o'clock and the pulley is a little bigger. Every thing on the engine seams to be the same as the MGA engine. What was the MARINA engine used in?
Gary
Gary Krukoski

on a Morris Marina - there was even a Twin Cam version - but a really awful car...
dominic clancy

Dominic

There was a TC or Twin Carb version but a twin cam, surely not.
Malcolm Asquith

You are right Malcolm - TC was a twin carb 1800 B series engine. I wonder if Dominic actually owned one of the Marinas? I know it was slagged off in the motoring press at the time and was made from their BL parts bin - which is why the MGA owners can go to scrap Marinas for engine bits. I had a Marina coupe 1800 after selling my MG midget when the kids came along - I won't say it was the best car in the world but it lasted many years without drama and got the family to the south of France when it had over 100K miles on the clock.
Now the MGA bit - has anyone actually replaced the front timing cover oil seal and retained the original timing cover? Mine is dripping oil heavily and needs doing - what's the best part to use? Cheers Cam Cunningham
C Cunningham

I bought a new Marina TC when it was first introduced - easily the worst car I ever owned. When I took it back to the dealer for it's first service I had three typed pages of faults. The engine (I always thought it was pure MGB) was mated to a smaller BMC gearbox (Triumph 1300 I think). The running gear was unmodified Marina sedan and was totally inadequate for the car's performance. It nearly killed me and my family when the brakes faded on a long decline in France. However, I would love to have that engine in my A.

Dan
Dan Barton

Cam, I used a timing cover from a mgb that had the timinng marks at the "eleven o'clock" position and also used the small harmonic balanced damper (crank pulley) from an mgb. No leaks...... I have a 58 mga with 1500 engine.
Mike
Mike

Cam,
I'd say (after obviously investigating this myself) that there's only one way to go and that's to ditch your original timing cover (cos you can only fit a felt seal) and obtain an MGB or similar, say Marina, as I did so you can use a rubber seal

Phil Parmenter
P Parmenter

Hi Folks. I have rebuilt a few MGA engines using the felt front timing cover seals and have NEVER had ANY leaks from the timing covers on these engines, even after as much as 25 years of heavy use! I believe that people have problems with leakage from the felt oil seals, because of improper installation. If the proper factory manual instructions are followed, the felt front oil seal should not leak. The felt seal must be soaked in clean motor oil BEFORE being installed in the timing cover. When soaked in motor oil, the seal becomes difficult to install in the timing cover because it swells in size. Care must then be taken not to damage the felt seal during installation. Blunt edged tools, and patience are needed to finesse the felt seal into position in the timing cover. The timing cover must then be replaced in such a way that the felt seal remains "centralized" on the crankshaft nose, and is not forced into an off center position. The woodruff keys in the crankshaft nose MUST be removed prior to re fitting the timing cover. Otherwise the woodruff keys will damage the felt oil seal. Cheers! GLenn
Glenn

Thanks for that Glenn - might be worth persevering with the felt seal to save the hassle of getting an MGB cover - now that I know that the felt seal can be made to work. Dan's experience with Marina brakes sounds rather hair raising - went down some steep hills on the Massif Centrale in France in my Marina in 1981- fortunately with no heart stopping moments - except when a 2CV passed us doing 70 mph and cornering on 2 wheels - ah memories! Cheers Cam
C Cunningham

Glenn/Cam,
OK you may get a felt seal to work but I can't really see the point when there's a chance that it may not. While you're doing the job you might as well do it knowing that it will definitely be OK and fit a different cover with a rubber seal. I'd say thats less hassle than doing the job twice. After all why did they upgrade from a felt seal to a rubber one ?

Phil Parmenter
P Parmenter

This thread was discussed between 26/01/2006 and 29/01/2006

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