• Before buying anything, the frame rails running parallel to the gearbox have to be checked. It must be in a very good condition, because these frame rails will carry the gearbox crossmember later.
• Buy a 5 speed conversion kit. It will fit 1600/1622 MGA engines. To fit a 1500 engine, the rear engine plate has to be changed to the 1600 one. To fit a 18V-engine, make the modifications which are necessary and dont forget to order the matching spigot bush and clutch bracket.
  Some sources for the kit: MG Owners Club (phone 0044 1954 231125), Bob West (phone 0044 1977703828), Lawrenz (phone 0049 8340 249), Automobielbedrief MG Cars (phone 0031 20-6593666, charges only 12 working hours for the whole job).
• Buy Ford Sierra 5 speed gearbox from Ford Sierra 1.6 or 1.8l 82-90 or from the Sierra 2.0l until 87 (Ford part no is 8797 7003 AA for a new unit or R8797 7003 AA for a reconditioned unit). It must be possible to unscrew the clutch bell housing. The first motion shaft is 175 mm from the gearbox front cover to the tip of the shaft. Gearboxes from late 2.0l/2.3l Sierras or Scorpios are looking similar but will not fit - the first motion shaft is 210 mm. The 5th gear can be identified by a 2 cm-"sandwich" plate between the gearbox housing and the gear lever extension.
• ATTENTION: Check all gearbox ratios, especially 5th gear. The manufacturer of the conversion kit, Peter Gamble, told me, that they have found RECONDITIONED units with a wrong 5th gear (0.95 ratio instead of 0.82). Checking is easy, just put in 5th gear, then turn first motion shaft 8 times, at the rear of the gearbox there have to be around 10 turns.

Day 1 - disassembling, gearbox preparations

• Time: 10.00 - Start
  Disconnecting the battery. Removing of bonnet, carpets, radiator, distributor, starter, carburretors and exhaust manifold.
  Disconecting of all connections (oil pressure connection, speedometer, tachometer, heater...). Disassembling all bolts between engine and gearbox.
• Time: 12.00 - Break, waiting for the helping hand (my wife Dagmar)
• Time: 12.30 - Engine pulling
  Pulling the engine with the help of my wife Dagmar (1 and a half hour this time - after messing around nearly an hour with the engine hoist, the pulling itself needs half an hour).
• Time: 14.00 - Visit the Ford-Dealer
  Bringing Dagmar home and visiting the Ford Dealer: some seals, some gearbox oil (very expensive - 25 DM the litre!)
• Time: 15.00 - Back in the garage
  Disconneting propshaft. Removing the tunnel turret. Removing the gearbox extension cover with gear lever. Pulling the gearbox. It is a very good idea to drain the gearbox BEFORE - as I just have learned. And the gearbox is a really heavy thing - would be better to do it with a helping hand.
• Time: 16.15 - 16.30 - Cleaning the garage from the gearbox oil
• Time: 16.30 - Preparing the new gearbox
  Time to work out aggressions - using the hacksaw, shortening the first motion shaft guide and sawing the Ford gearbox mounting. Changing front and rear seals. Changing lever and carbon ring from the MGA gearbox to the Ford gearbox. Completing the Ford gearbox with new bell housing.
• Time: 18.00 - Cleaning
  Cleaning MGA underbody (especially C-section), cleaning myself (especially fingernails - as everytime, I have forgotten to treat my fingers with vaseline before...)
• Time: 18.30 - End of the first day.

Day 2 - assembling

• Time: 9.30 - Start
  Messing around with the bush in the crank. Tried all the tricks from the bulletin works - but the damned thing didnt move a thou. So we desintegrated it with a chisel (very, carefully, of course).
• Time: 10.15 - Testing
  Reassembling clutch assembly, then first mating of engine and gearbox. Everything fits well. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5(!!!) gear working correctly. Everything is turning - wonderful! Disassembling engine and gearbox again.
• Time: 11.00 - Gearbox in the car
  "Gearbox swapping" - what a heavy piece of cast iron and aluminium! A helper is absolutely necessary and saves a lot of time. We positioned the gearbox and prepared the engine for its way back in the car.
• Time 11.45 Engine back in the car
  Again the oil filter! Catch 22: it is better to bolt on the oil filter outside the car. But it is better to get the engine in the car without the filter. Grmmfg####***###****```«! The rest of it was a lot more convenient because of the shorter first motion shaft.
• Time: 12.45 New crossmember
  The most stressing job. Because of the lack of space under the car, drilling the C-section (4 holes for the new crossmember) was really horrifying. I made a small mistake in measuring, so I have to widen 2 holes 2-3 millimeters - time consuming job.
• Time: 14.45 - Adjusting the gearbox
  Crossmember at its place, the gearbox can be finally adjusted. The gearbox has to come as far to the right as possible. Everything works fine, no more problems. Maybe some adjustments later on are necessary, if the gearbox touches the tunnel while starting the engine. The propshaft fits perfectly - thanks god!
• Time: 16.00 - Bringing Dagmar home
• Time: 16.30 - Completing the engine
  Distributor, Carbs..etc (("Assembling is the reverse..."...as the manual told us). Drilling hole in the tunnel for speedometer cable.
• Time: 21.00 Test
  Time for a short test - clutch is working, gearbox is working. Hood (bonnet) back on the car.

Day 3 - fixing details

• Time: 9.30 - 15.00
  First, the speedometer. A hole had to be drilled in the tunnel. Then the speedo cable connected to the gearbox.
  Second, DONT FORGET THE GEARBOX OIL! Topped up the gearbox.
  Third, the tunnel turret. In 3rd and 5 gear, the gear lever will touch the tunnel turret. A job for the tin nibbler...
  Fourth, reassembled the carpets and the gear lever gaitor. Unfortunately, the gaitor pulls too strong - gears will jump out. Fortunately, right now was the Techno Classica (one of Europes biggest classic car fairs - its in Essen, which is 20 minutes from Duesseldorf, the place where I live) - I found a MGB MkI gear lever gaiter, covered with leather, and a MGB MkI gear lever chrome ring (early tunnel) - fits perfectly to the A and looks pretty "classic"...
  Fifth, test drive and checking for oil leaks and roadworthiness.
  Sixth, cleaning the garage, the car and me.
  Seventh, enjoying the "overdrive" feeling...
  

Ratings

• 5 speed conversion kit, list price around 2.500 DEM incl. VAT (830 GBP, 1.400 USD)
• Ford Type 9 gearbox from a breakers yard, 300 DEM incl. VAT (with a 30 day guarantee; new exchange gearbox delivered by Ford comes to 1.800 DEM plus 300 DEM exchange charge)
• Gearbox oil, sealings, some nuts and bolts for general purposes, 150 DEM
• Dinner with the helping hand, 100 DEM
• Total: 3.050 DEM (1.016 GBP, 1.700 USD) as a Do-it-yourself-job

The bottom line

The kit is well designed and complete. Everything fits on the first attempt. The manual is written understandable and clear. Thanks to Peter Gamble, the producer of the kit, for his telephone support (me under the car, in one hand the cellular phone, in the other the wrench...). I need 24 working hours plus 1 working day for the assistant - deduct some coffee breaks and some inefficiency (searching for tools, trying, testing, doublechecking...) - all in all not so bad for a shadetree mechanic. What you get for all the work? The fifth gear reduces engine rpms from 3700 to 3000 while driving 60 mph. So long distance touring will be no longer a problem. The longer second gear is useful in town. You have a first gear with synchromesh - can be worth a million under some circumstances! My rating: Five spanners!

Photos

	The old propshaft (bottom) and the new one (top). The conversion propshaft is not bolted o nthe gearbox, but gliding in the rear end of the Sierra transmission.
	My helping hand (and beloved wife) Dagmar is just ready to throw in the new transmission. Bell housing is bolt on and made of aluminium alloy. The original Ford gearbox mounting has to be cut away.
	Here you can see the new special bush in the rear end of the crankshaft to suit the shorter Ford first motion shaft. What a mess to get the old one out! All the tricks didnt work - so we have just taken the chisel and desintegrated the old one carefully (yes, we have had an Ersatz if the new gearbox will not work).
	No difference - the new gearbox in place. The walls of the bell housing are designed much stronger than the original ones - so put the top srews in NOW - will be difficult later.
	The new gearbox mounting bolted on (in the background you cannot see the new zero emission engine, but Dagmars feet - she has just helped to bring the gearbox into place).
	Here you can see the new crossmember, bolted on the C-section of the MGAs frame. The C-section has to be in good order because it carries now the load of the transmission.
	Hole has to be cut in tunnel to make sure convenient guidance for speedo cable. Make sure that the cable is running in a wide angle under the carpet to prevent it from breaking.