General MG Five speed

[Louis 52MGTD]

I will prob. need to have the gearbox overhauled in the near future in my 1952 MGTD, 1st gear sounds like a rock grinder. should I consider putting in a five speed from Moss ? or have this one repaired and keep the car org. ? from what I understand the five speed's run near $5000 and the labor is near that also.
Has anyone here had this done ? are you happy with the five speed or do you wish you had the org. four speed back?

Right now I still drive the car once a week [maybe 5-8 miles] without using 1st gear, I stay pretty much local, the only car show I go to is only about 2 miles from home.
I changed the gearbox fluid last week, no metal was detected in the old oil that I could see, I put a small magnet in the drain hole, again no metal.

It shifts pretty smooth for now, but I know it's just a matter of time.
For now, I'm thinking about driving it until it wont go any more, then have a five speed put in it, any thoughts ?

 

[PAUL161]

I bought mine directly from High Gear in the UK. I saved quite a bit from the Moss price. It's a Ford T-9-5 speed transmission. I didn't want to move my engine forward so I opted for High Gears cross bar mod and the engine stays where it was originally. It comes with its own driveshaft ready to bolt in and a T-9 clutch disk, I also opted for the higher 2.98 first gear and not the original lower first gear. A few mods to the trans cover, but not anything too complicated. A few pix. PJ

 

[Joe Reed]

Considering how little you drive the car I'd keep it original (assuming the rebuild is less expensive than the 5-speed swap. The advantage of the 5-speed (apart from having synchro on 1st) is at highway speeds where lowering the RPMs is a nice benefit. Since you rarely, if ever, drive more than 10 miles a week you'll never notice the benefit of the 5th gear.

 

[drooartz]

I have a 5-speed (Datsun) in my Morris Minor, and I will say that I really like it. Opens up where and how I can drive the car, so I'm a big fan. @Joe Reed brings up a good point though. How do you want to drive the car? If you're not interested in higher speeds than there is always some value in keeping things original. Otherwise, go 5-speed and drive the heck out of that TD.

 

[mezy]

The problem with older cars, as you know they have no syncro on first gear,
The big mistake people make is depressing the clutch and shoving it into first
Allways select 2nd gear first to still the box then into first, this eliminates/reduces gear crunch in first.
If there is still gear crunch in first gear then the clutch is more than likely dragging a bit.
But if first sounds like a meat grinder when pulling away then its probably too late to adopt this practice.
Five speed all the way

 

[Louis 52MGTD]

Considering how little you drive the car I'd keep it original (assuming the rebuild is less expensive than the 5-speed swap. The advantage of the 5-speed (apart from having synchro on 1st) is at highway speeds where lowering the RPMs is a nice benefit. Since you rarely, if ever, drive more than 10 miles a week you'll never notice the benefit of the 5th gear.

I think I'll take Joe Reads advice and keep it original and have the gear box that is in the car rebuilt, I understand that if I go with the five speed that the engine will have to be moved forward a little, I think it might be best to leave it as close to original as possible, and the only driving I do now day's is around town.

Thanks to the rest of you for your advice. Louis

 

[PAUL161]

Louis, High Gear has an option where the engine doesn't have to be moved forward, I opted for that setup and it saved me from a lot of extra work as moving the engine forward in a TF is a pain since to do it properly, all the sheet metal forward of the firewall has to be removed. Big PITA! PJ