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MG MG Y Type - Gearbox

I had my gear box rebuilt 8-9 years ago because it would not stay in first gear and became more and more difficult to hold it in first. Got as I recall a new cluster gear and new first and reverse gears and all the bearings and bushings were renewed.
Never been really happy with the result. In first gear the leaver would move so that it almost disengaged unless you held it. Recently it has started to disengage so am back to my original problem.
Can't remember what it cost for the rebuild but it wasn't cheap.
Anyone else had this problem? Is there a simple solution that I am missing?
The Y, TD/TF gearbox has a poor reputation. A friend with a TD and similar but more extensive problems has just insalled a Sierra 5 speed and raves about its performance. Has anyone installed one in a Y? Can it be done? What are the potential pitfalls? It would probably not be that much more expensive than rebuilding the existing box. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Terry

Have you availed yourself of a copy of Neil Cairn's book on the XPAG Gearbox? I dont know if it would help as I dont have a copy - but I do know it is a good book! See the Book Review page.

Paul
Paul Barrow

It is possible to fit the Ford gearbox: http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgccy/pdf/yb5speed.pdf
Willem van der Veer

Thanks Willem, hope to make Silverstone this June so will look into it as a winter 2008 project. Terry
Terry O'Brien

Your problem sound like the locking bolts for the selectors are loose. They have to be wrie-locked, it is possible the people who rebuilt it failed to do this, and vibration has loosened them. This is all in the gearbox book Paul mentions. You can remove the top cover from the gear box without removing the gearbox itself, just the floor cover. All the locking bolts are easily seen, they have square headed bolts.
Neil Cairns

Reactivating for similar advice if I may: in our beloved YA yesterday and with no (noticeable) warning, a grumbly/vibratory noise appeared when cruising in 4th. All gears still engage, but the noise appears in 4th - including on overrun; also possibly a slight noise in 3rd. I'm not experienced in gearbox work, though willing to learn. Does this brief description point to any area/parts in particular that might be responsible. Unfortunately I live a very long way from any known T type or Y type gearbox enthusiast!
Any advice gratefully received as always.
PS - I've already removed floorboards etc and done the stethoscope test to confirm the rumbling/grinding in in the gearbox. John.
J P Hall

That's a bit wierd John,4th gear is a direct drive straight through the gearbox, as in none of the gears in there are being used, they're spinning around in there but no load on anything---If it were something in the box it would be more noticeable through the lower gears and then be quiet in 4th. Unless the rear mainbearing has really collapsed but then again with that it would be noisy through the gears.
Couple of things to check, Make sure the diff's pinion nut hasn't come loose, there should be zero up/down, forward/back movement at the pinion flange.
IF I was going to guess from what you've mentioned i'd think it's done a universal joint in the tailshaft, maybe have a good look push/pull at them and check for any movement---If nothing ,I'd pull the tailshaft out and give the car a run in 4th gear without the shaft
William Revit

Wow, that's interesting, Willy - the propshaft did feel ok at first blush this morning, but I'll check again tomorrow, plus run the gears with propshaft disconnected - hadn't thought of that! I'll report some more. Thanks always. John.
J P Hall

Hi Terry
I have for another car Y 6103 which has a motor all rebuilt , and I have planned a 5 speed g/box to match with which is in the workshop that I bought 2 years ago and I have contact with NTG to supply the conversion kit , just need to convert $ to £ which hurts. Just one of the many things to do but the YT resto is taking my time at the moment.
If anyone has comments knowledge or experience about what I am to do I would value any opinion.
There are ways to reduce the motor RPM, the above being one and according to Tony S altering the rear end is something else to consider,I know the car is a y type and not a Kia diesel doing 1500 rpm at 100kph in 8th gear which I love .
CR Dickinson

CR's initial post on this thread is from 2007 (18 years ago).

FYI, in 2013 I installed a 5 speed Toyota Celica 5 T50 gearbox in my TD project. (YT has taken priority since being purchased)

I got all the parts (Bell housing, speedo cable) except the drive shaft, from Dellow Conversions in Sydney. You may want to check if they do a conversion from the XPAG engine to your gearbox.

I had to cut the rear gearbox support member and fit a replacement support member a few cm rearwards and lower.

All the best with your conversion.
Stuart
Stuart Duncan

Yeah, I think personally that it's a mistake to use an old thread first up to solve a new problem. This is a completely different issue as in a noise in 4th gear, not a jumping out of 1st gear/ gearbox swap issue.
This new problem of John's could be something simple like U joints or gearbox mounting failure. linking a different gearbox issue confuses the issue---------That's how I see it anyway, but the issue needs to be diagnosed for what it is ---noisy in 4th gear, -It may well be an internal G/box issue but wierd symptoms-
William Revit

I agree Willy - I'll keep it clean with a dedicated question. Apologies if I muddied the waters. John.
J P Hall

No need to apologize to anyone john, it's your post to do with what you want----I think it's probably easier cleaner to have your own thread and easier to find in the archives later if needing to go searching---just my opinion.
William Revit

This thread was discussed between 02/02/2007 and 02/06/2025

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