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MG MGB Technical - Gear lever identification

I'm over from the MGA forum and I'm hoping someone can identify this gear lever which was on my MGA when bought and for a number of years after when I started a restoration and realized that it was not an original shape MGA lever.

The MGA lever is straight and you can see from the photo this is a curved one. As there were several parts on the car which were ex MGB I think maybe this lever is also ex-MGB. The knob thread is 5/16" UNF.

Question is 'was the MGB lever cranked like this one' ?. Thanks for your help.......................Mike

m.j. moore

Looks like a lever out of a sedan - possibly a Riley 1.5?
Bill Spohn

3-synchro MGBs had two different levers, depending on whether overdrive was fitted or not. One was straight and one was cranked, but I'm not sure if that's the MGB one.
Dave O'Neill 2

That shift lever looks like a standard three synchro B lever. The three synchro OD lever looks much different. RAY
rjm RAY

Gents, have a look at the attached link, which is from the MGB BBS Technical archive in 2010 and is helpful

http://www.mg-cars.net/mgb-technical-bbs/mgb-gear-lever-2010030318581911382.htm

Andy
Andy Robinson

According to Clausager both 3-synch levers were cranked, but on the non-OD box the bend was much lower and concealed by the gaiter when fitted.

That makes Mikes lever more like the top one in Andy's link, except for quite a marked difference in the angle of the crank. Perhaps Mikes is turned over slightly.

But there must have been many different levers in the BL parts bin at the time.
Paul Hunt

"But there must have been many different levers in the BL parts bin at the time."

That's true, but saloon levers tended to be longer.
Dave O'Neill 2

Thanks for the comments folks.

As Bill remarked the BMC Riley 1.5 (early 60s) had a cranked lever but the pictures I've seen would suggest (and it's difficult to be sure) that they have a slightly longer lever than mine.
In fact on the photos in Andy's link there are two lengths of single cranked lever: the longer one, at 11", in Ian Buckley's picture and the three shorter ones in D.K.McNeill's photo. Scaling the measurements it seems that these three are between 9 and 10" long i.e. the same as mine which is 9.5".

So it looks like mine is ex an MGB with 3 synchro OD box.

Thanks again ......................Mike
m.j. moore

The critical dimensions are the radius of the "ball" and distance between the two balls. The latter determines the "throw".
Allan Reeling

This thread was discussed between 05/09/2015 and 06/09/2015

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