Bill...
When I bought my 58 MGA, It had a 1800 engine installed. The engine was
frozen and I decided to put an origianl 1500 back in after having it rebuilt.
However, I did some different things with the flywheel. Rather than put in a
1500 flywheel and MGA clutch, I put in a three-main MGB flywheel and an MGB
clutch. The MGB clutch is superior to the MGA clutch and the MGB three-main
flywheel allows the engine to accelerate a bit faster. Also, the MGB clutch
is cheaper. I also replaced the ring gear and had the flywheel balanced (with
the clutch on the flywheel). The machine shop will mark how to replace the
clutch on the flywheel when you assemble everything which will allow you to
maintain the balance they obtained in the shop. You will need to get a
different clutch pivot arm ( that little unit that gets pushed by the
hydraulic cylinder and pushes on the clutch pressure plate) and the mount for
the pivot arm, but these are not expensive and can be purchased used...
By the way, I did not figure this all out on my own, Barney Gaylord told
me what to do!!!
Joe Ratigan
58 Roadster
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