I don't know that this is strictly speaking a bodge, but it is worthy of
note. It happened when my MGA (1600 Mk-II) lost several teeth on third gear
accelerating onto the Mass Pike back in 1987. The garage I patronised had a
very nice 1600 Mk-II transmission to replace the 1500 transmission that the
PO had for some reason installed. The motor was at the time a 3-main MGB
motor, which mated perfectly with the 1500 transmission. This becomes
significant later.
So the garage removed the motor and transmission, bolted up the new
transmission and installed it. At this point I had swung by the place on my
way home to see how things were going, so I was there when they cranked up
the motor. And nothing happened. Turned out that the 1600 Mk-II
transmission had "a slight protuberance" on the inside of the bell housing,
and the the clutch assembly was hitting it, preventing it from moving freely.
So I learned my first important British Car lesson, i.e. that 3-main MGB
motors aren't *strictly speaking* compatible with MGA transmissions, only it
would seem with 1500 transmissions, despite documentation to the contrary.
How to repair this problem? Well, first, they unbolted the transmission and
separated it from the motor just enough that they could indeed see the
protuberance, at which time they got out a flexible file and began sawing
away at the soft aluminium. After a while, they had ground it down enough
that we entered Stage Two of the process: slowly tightening the bolts,
bringing the transmission and the motor closer together. Then they started
the motor and I got to listen to this absolutely godawful sound as the steel
in the clutch housing began to finish grinding down the aforementioned Slight
Protuberance. "Don't worry, perfectly safe, mate!". After several
iterations of this, the noise died down to a slight clicking, which over the
next few months went completely away.
Until the first really cold morning, when I started my car and heard
clicking. Thereafter during the winter, it was a constant reminder of the
experience, until the next spring, when I swapped in an MGA motor and at the
same time used a dremel tool to grind the burr down properly.
markl
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Mark L. Lambert
Mobile Systems Group, Network Products Division
Oracle Corporation
"I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm
alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if
I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it...unless
I'm thirsty"
-- Mme. Lily Bollinger, on Champagne
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