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MGA Pulled the trigger. Bought a MGA Twin Cam

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Marvin Gruber

Marvin Gruber

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After looking at the car three times, I gave in and bought a 59 Twin Cam MGA. Owner knew what he had, so it was no steal but figured when was I going to have another chance to buy one plus it was less than a 100 miles from home. Engine is out but together. Rockers have rust but rest of the car is solid and straight. Guess what I'll be doing this Winter.

Marv
 
MGA Twin Cam?

I sat in one once ...

Tom
 
Very nice. Definitely need pictures. :smile:
 
Good luck, Marvin. I bought one new in 1959. White with black interior. What color is yours? (Maybe it was mine...)It was a much tighter car than an Austin healey with better steering and ride. A bit heavy in the front end compared to my brother's regular MGA, but no rattles. The handbrake didn't work too well because of the disc brakes - first car to offer them on all four wheels as I recall.I had to run 3 different heat ranges of Champion plugs to prevent fouling in city driving. N-3, N-5 & N-8. If you have that trouble, try my fix. It worked. I got calls from all over the East from as far as Washington, DC. I had the car for 6 months, then traded it for a new VW sunroof because I was commuting to NYC to law school. Got over a grand back with the Beetle as I recall over 50 years later. Where did the years go?
 
I'm not that computer savvy, never posted a picture here. Basil, I might send you a picture and let you post it. Got to do a medical thing this week. then I'll take a couple of pictures.

BTW, this one was Ardent red with black Interior (YD3/1309) 1959
Marv
 
Marvin Gruber said:
I'm not that computer savvy, never posted a picture here. Basil, I might send you a picture and let you post it. Got to do a medical thing this week. then I'll take a couple of pictures.

BTW, this one was Ardent red with black Interior (YD3/1309) 1959
Marv
Click to expand...

Ain't rocket science, Marvin. Watch this:

 
pdplot said:
Good luck, Marvin. I bought one new in 1959. White with black interior. What color is yours? (Maybe it was mine...)It was a much tighter car than an Austin healey with better steering and ride. A bit heavy in the front end compared to my brother's regular MGA, but no rattles. The handbrake didn't work too well because of the disc brakes - first car to offer them on all four wheels as I recall.I had to run 3 different heat ranges of Champion plugs to prevent fouling in city driving. N-3, N-5 & N-8. If you have that trouble, try my fix. It worked.
Click to expand...

Early engines had some plug oiling issues, solved later in the run with dirrefent rings. You only need one plug for a Twin Cam, as long as it is NGK, not Champion, which seem to have narrower hear ranges.

The first car to come with 4 wheel discs wasn't the MGA, it was the Jensen 541 (unless you want to include the Healey 100S which was a special race model they built only 50 of).

Good luck with the Twin Cam - great cars, and get in touch if you want to know any mechanical trivia on them (like how to prevent piston burning).
 
Here we go, my first attempt to post a picture. I got the twin cam motor assembled today. IT was like putting a puzzle together without the pieces. Thankfully I had an old B motor to use bolts from.
104_2040.jpg


Whew, looks like it worked. I'll post one of the body later.

Marv
 
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