MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MG Y Type - Buying tips

I am hoping to view a late YA next week with a view to purchase. Having only owned modern cars I would be grateful for any advice on what particular things to look for on a Y. I did see the car at a show during the Summer and it looked it pretty good condition and seems reasonably priced. The current owner tells me that it was restored in the 1970s and that everything works, although first gear is noisy. Is this something one just has to live with or can it easily be fixed without spending a fortune?
Andrew Adamson

First gear will be noisy, as it also doubles up as the reverse gear. It is a staight cut gear wheel, that the selectors move about, no synchromesh or dogs to engage. If the gear has been forced it may well be chipped, a common fault. As the gear is a straight cut one, even in almost new condition, it will be noisy, it is part of the state of the art engineering of the day.

Renewing this gear is not difficult, though the gearbox only comes out, up into the car. The wooden floor needs taking up, the front seats need removing, and the geabox cover unscrewing. The gearbox is that from the Series 'M' Morrs Ten of 1938-1949. spares can be had fom NTG or the Octagon CC, see adverts pages on this site.

If it is just noisy, but works OK, might be worth just living with it.

Neil.
Neil Cairns

Following from the header on buying tips, I've just viewed a YA/YB which has been idle for about 20 years and has lost its engine and gearbox to the owners TD. It's been outdoors for the past 2 months behind a hedge. The bodywork is all there but boot floor, door bottoms, rear valence and boot lid are all in need of repair. The entire body is covered in surface rust. The leather seats are fairly good and restorable. It's a car supplied new in Ireland and to me, it's borderline between restoring or a parts donor.

Is a project like this really worth taking on? Not financially because you never get your money back on a serious restoration but is it realistically possible to restore such a Y-type without spending a small fortune?

Billy
Billy Mulqueen

Neil,

When I pulled the gearbox on YT3700 I found the internals to be different to the standard Y. The first motion shaft had one less tooth than the Y hence making all the indirects lower. Also the the shape of the syncro. teeth where wider. Also there was no provision for the reversing switch. Local opinion is that the gearbox was from a Morris Ten. Problem was solved by the purchase of a known Y box which incidently jumbs third on overun and has a noisy low gear, the reason for the removal of the original.

Cheers BAZ.
Barry Davis

On the subject of gearboxes I have a full Y one that is available. I haven't a clue what it runs like as it has come from the one I am currently breaking (See Classified ads on www.mgytypes.org)

As to Billy's query, boot lids always go. So do rear floors in the SWC (Spare Wheel Compartment) area and the rear valence. All of these bits can be bought and replaced. If that is all you need then it is a reasonably straight forward job to get the car back on the road as XPAG engines can be obtained too - just make sure you get a proper XPAG and not a tarted up XPEW or whatever the Wolsley one was! Sportscar Metalworks are the people you need to talk to. I have used them for both a new boot lid skin and rear valence panel (change from £300 too) and very pleased I have been. See Links page on www.mgytypes.org for their details.

We hope to be publishing a guide to buying a Y Type shortly on the website so this is a timely reminder to us to do it - thanks!

Paul
Paul Barrow

Paul,

Looking at the Y in the "Ys on Parade" that you are scrapping and comparing the back of it to the car I am interested in , I'm wondering how one is feasible and the other is not. Is yours really that bad?

Billy
Billy Mulqueen

Paul,

The only difference between an SC/2 'YB' XPAG engine and a Wolseley 4/44 XPAW one is the sump, and the dip stick hole. They are identical otherwise, hence their use in many TD's, TF's, and Y's. The XPAW is a SC/2 engine.

Neil.
Neil Cairns

Just a note for Billy McQueen to say that it is possible to restore a Y without spending a fortune providing it is in reasonable condition to start with i.e. complete/chassis not rotted and the engine/gearbox/ are reasonably sound - although all the bits for these are easily obtainable or use an XPAW !. The way to do it is to live with the fact that the car will never be concours (who cares) and realise that if you do most of it yourself you can save a small fortune. e.g. to restore doors just find a local grit blaster get all the rust blasted away then some welding to fill the gaps and fill/prime etc. I restored my car this way and it looks OK. It is also more fun as you do not have to attend to every imperfection. Seats can be expensive to restore but you can do them up on the cheap if you want to. I had mine done by a retired trimmer etc. The end cost depends on how exacting you are and whether the sight of better examples will bother you. I would say it's what you enjoy about the car as a hobby that counts.
David Mullen

Apologies for spelling Billy's name wrong in my last contribution - I should of course have typed 'Billy Mulqueen'
David Mullen

This thread was discussed between 31/10/2002 and 01/12/2002

MG MG Y Type index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MG Y Type BBS now