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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 TD TF 1500 - Skyhook Engineering--Conversions

Are they still in business building 5 speed conversions for the T series? PJ
Paul161

Unfortunately, no; Steve had a stroke and has stopped doing such work. He has sold all his machine equipment, and is completely out of the game. Hi-Gear and Dellow seem to be the people doing these conversions now.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Tom, Just off hand, do you know what shipping is from the UK for Hi-Gears gear box? Any complications? PJ
Paul161

Gene has dealt with them directly and speaks favorably of his experience Paul.
MG LaVerne

It seems like a complete set-up from them is a quite a bit cheaper than Moss, even with the kit and separate gear box purchases. Don't know how much more shipping ads, but it still must total out less than the Moss kit. Thanks LaVerne, maybe Gene will chime in here or on the other site. PJ
Paul161

The Hi Gear kit is very complete - I fitted one myself. A Type 9 box is available from various sources in the UK for around £900 - £1000 or you can pick them up off eBay UK for around £200 or so in used unrestored condition. Just about all versions can be modified to fit our cars by changing the input shaft etc.
Dave H
Dave Hill

I've never bought a Hi-Gear kit (I still have 2 Skyhook trans waiting), but should point out that there are two - one that required no cutting but moves the engine forward 1cm, and one that does not require movement, but does require cutting of the cross-member.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair

t lange

Andy King also sells kits and the quality of the parts is excellent. One of the best features is he sells individual components. I simply bought a new bell housing for about £200 and made, or sourced all the other components myself. You can still get Type 9 gearboxes rebuilt in the UK for about £200. If you search there are gearbox reconditioners that still have overhaul kits gathering dust. The guy who did mine never thought he would see a Type 9 again and certainly would never find a use for the kits he had. I made up a new front engine mount but a friend who is also using one of Andy's bell housings simply elongated the holes in the original one. If anyone wants details of the parts used simply contact me.

Jan T
J Targosz

Paul, I believe you can save around a Grand by ordering direct. You have to call Hi-Gear....as there was no online ordering.(as of 10 months ago)...but Peter Gamble is very efficient and personable. As Dave H states, very complete conversion kit. The Ford T9 was used in the Mercury Merkur imported into the US. That is what I used. They are getting harder to find, as they are from the '80s...but still around. You have to change the Input Shaft to a shorter one, as Dave H mentioned.
Anyway, looking at my receipt from last Oct. Total Price was $1503.40(925.00 Pounds Sterling) for the Conversion Kit, Less Trans. Shipping was $235.66(145 Pounds Sterling) to Virginia. But that also included the Input Shaft. And I believe around $78 Customs/Brokerage Fees. I believe there is some good information on the Hi-Gear Site.
http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/
Mike TF-8257
M Brand

I've emailed this to Paul but putting it here for the others:

I have two T-9’s, one bought through a friend who was a Moss distributor about 12 years ago and one bought directly from Hi-Gear about 5 years ago. I installed the Moss transmission as soon as I got it and had no problems but the Hi-Gear transmission was ordered on one of those “get around to it one of these days” occasions.

“One of these days” was last year - about 4 years after purchasing (damn, I’m slow). The car had been running great but I’d just built a new engine and figured it would be a good time to swap everything out at one time. Everything went together easily and the transmission shifted well BUT had a grinding noise on deceleration. I messed with it for a few days then called Peter Gamble at Hi-Gear and told him my problem. I had the original shipping/ordering info so I gave him the order number, he looked it up and found his copy so he knew exactly how long I’d had it in my possession. He was very sympathetic to my situation but asked me to check my differential before we went any farther. I pulled the differential, there was some wear on the pinion and ring gear teeth, so I replaced them, bolted everything back up and tested it. Some of the noise was gone but there was still enough to worry me so I called Peter back up. He agreed to send me a replacement transmission if I’d ship the bad one back to him…easy choice on my part! Within a month I had the new transmission and Peter set up the return shipment with the company he uses for the noisy one. I believe it cost $273 for shipping - the company picked it up at my door. The new transmission was perfect, no problems at all.

As for cost…look at Hi-Gear’s website (http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/ <http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/>) calculate the price given in pounds to dollars. The kit price ($1521) is given here: http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/content/view/17/32/ <http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/content/view/17/32/> and the T-9 price ($1139) is given here: http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/content/view/17/32/ <http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk/content/view/17/32/> Shipping was about $500 - add it all up ($3159) and you’ll see a considerable savings over the Moss price even with the free shipping Moss advertises. If I remember correctly there may have been a customs fee but that was trivial. And yes, you’ll have to wait about 4 weeks but time is not that much money!

Hi-Gear is sort of a ‘cottage industry’ with Peter and his wife keeping it going out of their house I believe. They don’t do email so you have to call him and talk direct. He’s very easy to work with, very knowledgeable and really stands behind his company. I’d deal with him again in a heartbeat.
Gene Gillam

If interested I have a 5 speed T9 gearbox converted to fit XPAG Engines. Fifth gear 0,82 - 1 and all sync. Relocation of engine and interfering with crossbeam is not required. A pleasure to drive. Can be modified to fit even XPEG. Price incl. cover in steel, USD 2 300

Within short I will have even another more modern Getrag gearbox modified as above, with even rear sync.

Both are in very good condition according to the expert who overhauled them.
Powermax AB


YS Strom

Mr. Strom, Please email me about the transmission in question. PJ
Paul161

If anyone want the contact details of an outfit that rebuilds Type 9 gearboxes at a sensible price (in the UK) I can recommend klassiktrans.co.uk
They rebuilt an XK120 box for me.
Dave H
Dave Hill

If you want to put a face to the name, here's a 30 sec video of Peter Gamble on his stand at an MG show a couple of years ago

http://www.dropbox.com/s/s1kqw2kcsm88vab/Peter_Gamble.m4v?dl=0

David
David Wardell

Mr.Strom, your email is not coming through, it won't download for some reason. PJ
Paul161

David,

Thanks for the video...they look almost exactly as I pictured them in my mind from talking to them on the phone.

Gene
Gene Gillam

Dear Paul, try
yngve(at)powermaxmotor.se
I have tried to send it once more.
YS Strom

Mr. Strom, I am receiving your email title, but for some reason, my system is having a hard time downloading it. I will try another email program on another computer. PJ
Paul161

Dear Paul
Feel free to call
+46 70 377 37 70
for information on the T9 conversion
YS Strom

This thread was discussed between 07/09/2015 and 09/09/2015

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