MG Car Repair: MGA tramsmission, clutch plate, clutch pedal

Question
Hi:

I have a 1958 MGA 1500 roadster, that has been sitting for quite some time (almost two years). I had it serviced recently, and the mechanic told me that the clutch plate was stuck, but he freed it. That was a couple of months ago, and I have since driven it only once since. Now, the clutch appears to be stuck again. When I try to shift, I can't get it into gear, and it grinds loudly. The clutch pedal seems to be okay (good resistance). I need to check the transmission fluid. Do I use just regular fluid, by the way? Also, any advice on how to get the gearbox working again?

Answer
Hi Tom,

It is not uncommon for the clutch plate to stick to the flywheel and pressure plate when left for a long period. It is unusual for it to stick a second time once broke loose.

Many MGs were brought to me in the dealership with the clutch plate stuck. I had a method that I used that I was able to break some of them loose. (about 50% of them)

It can be dangerous so it is necessary to only try this if you have the right road conditions.
I had a long straight road close to the dealership I worked at so for me it was not a problem.
I got other mechanics to help push the car out next to the road and pointed down the road where there were no side roads nor stop signs or stop lights. With little to no traffic I started the engine and warmed it up then shut it down. Then I put it in 1st gear and turned on the ignition and pulled the starter. The pre-warmed engine starts and the car goes. I rev the RPM up and ease off on the throttle so as to have no load which allows me to pull the shift lever out of 1st into neutral and then I set the throttle to what I felt was the correct RPM for my forward movement for 2nd gear and pulled it into 2nd. (If you get the RPM correct for your rolling speed to match 2nd gear it will go into 2nd with only a minor jerk forward or aft with little to no gear clash.

Now you speed up in 2nd and repeat the process for 3rd and speed up again and repeat the process for 4th gear. Once in 4th gear you speed up until you reach about 3500 RPM and hold the clutch pedal down and open and close the throttle several times quickly.

About in 50% of the cars I did it on, I was able to break the clutch loose.

The reason it is necessary to do this in 4th gear is that high gear exerts the max load on a clutch and the reason you do it at 3500 RPM is because that is about max torque on an MG engine.

It takes some skill to do this without any gear clash at all. I learned it while working for several years in motorcycle shops as they use to have the same problem.

The MGs that I could not break loose that way I had to remove the engine to correct.

You should not attempt this unless you have a road with little to no traffic and no side roads or stops for a good distance.

MG recommends gear oil for the transmission but we used engine oil in the dealerships because the gear oil made the syncros not work very well.

Howard