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MG MGA - Adding The MG to an MGA

Any of you added non-optional extra MG decorative bits to your MGA?

My 10 year old 5-speed box has the 'long stroke' gear lever. As such, it did not work well with the standard MGA gaiter, so I had to make my own leather cloth gaiter. Rummaging around in my bits box today I came across an old boot lid octagon which I have now fitted as a finisher to the gear lever base.

Steve


Steve Gyles

The only decorative bit I have is usually hidden away under the bonnet, though I do have a new badge for the rear:



dominic clancy

That's a nice touch Steve, looks like it belongs.

Can I ask what exact colour your seats are. They look pale yellow on my monitor which is what I've been looking for. Did you purchase them from a local outfit?

Thanks
Bruce
B Suelzle

Perfect, Steve!

FRM
FR Millmore

Bruce

I think it is magnolia but I will check with Bob West in the morning. On one of my trips over to him during my rebuild, the wife and I spotted a car he was rebuilding in British Racing Green and the upholstery you see in the photo. We fell in love with the colour combination and came away with cans of the paint (Jaguar Hen BRG), the seat kits and all the trimming!

The car he was rebuilding to a customer's specifications went on to win the concours event that year at the MGCC Silverstone annual meeting. It's registration I think was either 5 MGA or MGA 5.

Steve
Steve Gyles

That's a lovely colour combination! I've thought about the same combination and it's still high on my list of choices, I just find the BRG is hard to get just "right".

Bruce
B Suelzle

Steve,

Very nice color combo, the exact same that I chose.

B. Suelzle - I got the materials for my interior in LA from GAHH (gahh@gahh.com, 818-767-6242). It is a jaguar interior color. here are the #'s:

leather - magnolia 4197E
vinyl - 5002

The quality and service was good and the color is a nice creamy color.

The BRG paint I used (very similar to Steve's) I got from a jaguar restorer. It is a PPG 44524 in single stage or PPG 46169 in base and clear.

Good luck with your project,

Randy

Randy Myers

Thanks for the update Randy. I think that's the color I have in mind. Specially when it gets a nice patina like Steve's.
Now just have to decide the paint color BRG or Black....hmmm, tough one.

-Cheers
B Suelzle

I put the radio from my 1968 MGB into my 1958 MGA. That MGB was the first car I ever owned, and I loved it more than any sane person should love an inanimate object. About eight years on, (right when I was getting it in mechanically and cosmetically good shape) I took a corner too fast, hit some gravel, spun it around two times and ran it straight into a tree, totalling it. The friend who was riding with me was thrown out of the car and landed in the middle of the road -- with, strangely, the car's grille in his lap.

Since I had destroyed an MG, I decided to resurrect an MG, and so as a rememberance of the car I destroyed, I put a piece of it in the car that I saved.

When the MGA was restored, over fifteen years later, the nightmares about the MGB ended.


David Breneman

I think I am adding the Triumph to the MGA, someone said my petrol cap was from a TR3?

Dave


Dave Swinburne

Dave, that petrol cap is either from a TR3 or from a triumph spitfire. It certainly does not belong to an MGA.
F Camilleri

It was the number plate that I changed. It always seemed to me to belong to the earlier era and not part of the general MGA styling so I fitted a couple of drop arms and housed the light behind the bumper -all reversible if needs be. Similiar to A Healey.


J H Cole

John

Your exhaust pipe seems to stick out a lot more than mine. Seems rather long. It might be an optical illusion but it also looks a smaller bore. My pipe is a smidge over 4cm diameter.

Steve
Steve Gyles

John

Is a license plate legal without lighting?

dominic clancy

Steve, my exhaust protrudes about 38 mm (1 1/2'') beyond the back bumper and is 4 cm dia. I didn't realise that these were outside normal tolerances. Its a s.steel system and I can't explain why the pipe dia should be smaller than yours but by Bernouli an increase in velocity will mean a decrease in pressure and therefore better exhaust scavaging- bollocks or what?
Dominic, I have lighting, the rear light is behind the bumper and shines down in a 10 mm gap between the plate and the bottom lip of the bumper. In the interior design world its called discrete back lighting!
J H Cole

John

Mine is ss also. 3.9cm ID, 4.1cm OD. My pipe is flush with the bumper. Interesting how all these bits and pieces vary.

Steve
Steve Gyles

John,
I think Bernoulli will not allow a restricted diameter to increase the velocity. A static diameter with an increase in velocity will give an increased pressure, but an increased diameter will allow an increased velocity which will translate to greater flow. A decreased diameter pipe will give an increase in pressure and an increase in velocity to provide the same flow.
Mike Parker

Thanks Mike, I expected correction from a far more informed member.
Steve, my tail pipe projects 195 mm from the box so is it the tail pipe that is different to yours or the position of the box that is more to the rear? If you look at the MGA pictures that Gordon has just put on under 'nice looking car' it seems to have quite an extended tail pipe.
Dominic, its rear registration number is painted on the body without any attempt at illumination so I don't know how it passes its MOT? I don't think one could claim borrowed red light from the tail lights. I think we've had the issue of rear registration lights before but I can't remember the conclusion if there was one.
J H Cole

John

My box is, I think, a Falcon SS system. Its tailpipe is 22cm, so it looks like I have my box further forward than yours. Either that or my box is shorter at 62cm.

I have no idea if there is a 'correct' position. I just noticed that yours was different to mine.

There seems to be a variety of lengths in the likes of Clausager and others. Interestingly, the MGA that appeared at the 1956 car show in London does not appear to have an exhaust! It seems that most photos from that era are front end, so it's all a bit inconclusive at the moment.

Cheers

Steve


Steve Gyles

I have just insalled a new system form the engine pipe back and is 2inch, a small silencer under the floor and a longer silencer next to the tank. They are both straight through glass packed and a nice stainless tip to finishe it off. The tip sits 1.5 inches past the rear bumper. I like the sound of the new system over the really LOUD old worn out system.
DJ Lake

I can't hink of anything more I rather do on a Saturday morning than to read about a bunch of guys comparing how far their pipe sticks out, their diameters and the tips. And let's not forget about the photos.

OK. I'm over it now........I've had my coffee. Carry on.


Chuck Schaefer

I'd like to "hear" more about what others have done to customise their MGA's
Chris Velardi

Steve,

Your combination looks pretty nice, (seat colors), I am in the process to paint mine, but still undecided about colors, black (I had one) red (the actual color) and the BRG that I like to much,(but seems that are a large gamut of tonalities), it is possible that you publish a picture of your car or send it to me.

Regards
Raul
R Garcia

This thread was discussed between 15/02/2010 and 27/02/2010

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