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MG TD TF 1500 - 52 rear axle

been reading threads on changing the ratio to an MGA setup. questions:
do you notice a large drop off in acceleration?

is there someone that does this if i pull mine and send to them? suggestions who?

better to change the speedo gearing or look for one of those ratio change boxes mentioned in other threads?

is the MGA ratio the best ratio to change to? guess that is matter of opinion... sorry for that.

other things i should know before doing?

Thanks
TLW Wright

There will be a drop off in acceleration. The amount will depend on what gear set you change to.

Dave Clark does gear change service and there may be others. He is located in Arizona, so shipping could be rather pricey

Either change would be satisfactory.

The gear change options would be...

4.875
4.55
4.1
3.9

The lower down the list you go, the greater the engine rpms at any given speed. Also larger steps between gear shifts. At some point you might find that the car doesn't have the power to pull hills in high gear and find yourself shifting down and traveling at speeds up a grade at less than you had done in the past.

When considering a gear change I think it would be wise to consider why you want to do so and what kind of driving you do.

MG LaVerne

Contact Dave Clark. He supplied my new 4.3 axle and two of the new modern half shafts.

c180av8tor at gmail dot com

Did it last Oct and it works just fine? I still have to get the Speedo correction box adjusted as the current unit is for the 5 speed box with STD axel (53 TD)
I did not find any marked reduction on acceleration and first gear is now usable.
Highly recommend it.

Rod
Rod Jones

Thanks.
in Delaware so mostly flat driving. no hills to speak of. i like the feel/sound of the engine running 3000 rpm or so. but at that speed i feel i am running too slow. not trying to drive 65 but i would like to run 55 comfortably. (well what comfort is to me)
i just did find Dave Clark's name on another forum and i have sent him an email. was thinking the same thing on freight... if i could find someone closer it might be better.
TLW Wright

Read all the documented how to's which are available on the web and have a crack at doing it yourself. Very little special tooling required, a torque wrench and a good quality bearing puller kit are the basic essentials.

The necessary shims required to set bearing pre loads can even be made using hole saws, a pair of curved snips and shim stock.

A few carpentry and mechanical skills will enable you to follow the methodology contained in the Dick Lunney document.

Hardest task is locally sourcing the MGA components.

Graeme
G Evans

The Virgin Rear End Conversion article tells you what you need & how to proceed. Carl Cederstarand's Crown Wheel & Pinion Interchange shows all the power curves for the various ratios & provides powerful reasons for the change. IMHO the 4.3 provides the best compromise & this is Carl's recommendation. To be able to travel at near freeway speeds without flogging the engine seems a very wise thing to do. Is 4.1 a typo LaVerne? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

For the speedo change.... I don't think you can do better than Declan Burn's correction box. A straight plug and play device. I think better value than re-doing the speedo, especially the early chronograph type.

... CR
C.R. Tyrell

4.1 was standard fitting in the MKII MGA's Fairly hard to come by these days although I did have one that I could have used at the time I went for the 4.3

Personnaly I wish I had a 4.55 here to test out. I think it would be more to my liking.
MG LaVerne

had numerous emails with Dave clark and have decided to go that way. he has a 4.3 ready to go so that was a bit lucky. also getting new half shafts.
the speedo conversion box is 160 so i am going to check what Nisonger will convert for. not much trouble to pull out the speedo and send it in. they just updated it last year. wouldn't you know it???

i had planned on replacing the steering wheel and wiper motor this year. but i think this change will be a better move.
TLW Wright

TLW:

Please contact me off the board by e-mail. What part of Delaware are you in?

John Masters
Wichita, KS
John Masters

This thread was discussed between 11/12/2014 and 13/12/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

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