NAMGAR Parts Quiz – Part 1

It is estimated there are over 15,000 individual pieces that make up an MGA. It doesn’t seem possible that it takes so many parts to make up one car … Until you take it apart for restoration! Keeping track of so many small components becomes difficult at times. Identifying them all during reassembly can be an outright challenge. Replacement of worn and damaged parts is inevitable, which brings in additional opportunity for parts to not fit together at all.

In the style of the Parts Contests that Cecelia Bruce often created at our national Get-Togethers, I thought it might be fun to offer a little contest, which appeared in a recent E-Newsletter. Up for grabs was a free year’s membership! The object was to identify each of the twenty-five parts in the quiz, state how many were on a car, and what MGA models it would have fit. There were some very comprehensive answers turned in, with the top five all within a few points. Edging out the others was Barney Gaylord! Congratulations and a well-deserved complimentary year’s membership in NAMGAR. A second membership was given by random drawing from all contestants. Congratulations to Ron Roberts. The quiz originally appeared via Survey Monkey in the August issue of eNews!

What I found most interesting is that, there were a lot more trick questions in this contest than I had originally planned. To set up the quiz, I simply rummaged through my MGA parts and grabbed some things that would be varied in difficulty to identify. What I didn’t initially consider were the subtleties of which models some of these parts fit. Here’s a review of what was on the quiz, with some explanations.

#1. Wing Bolt – Hood to Screen. This was an easy item for Roadster owners to identify, and there are two per car. The only considerations are that if an optional hardtop was fitted in addition to the soft top, quantity would be four! And if the cut-down racing windshield were fitted without a top at all, the quantity would be zero.

#2. Clamp – Spare Wheel. One is fitted to each MGA. This part fits all MGA Roadsters & Coupes, EXCEPT the 1600 Coupe & later Twin Cam Coupes. With the introduction of the 1600 Coupe, the spare tire was relocated to accommodate the solid rear bulkhead. Thus, the spare tire clamp was 2″ shorter and a bit different in shape.

#3. Pillar – Dynamo Adjusting Link. One is located under the front of the generator mount on all pushrod MGA’s. It is not fitted to the Twin Cam model.

#4. Float – Carburetor. Two are fitted to ALL MGAs. I do recommend using nitrophyl floats when rebuilding your carburetors.

#5. Clip for Support Rod (Bonnet). This was a bit of a challenge as it could resemble one of the three crank retainers located inside the trunk (boot), but they are larger in size. This clip also resembles the retainer used to hold the trunk (boot) support rod in early MGAs, which was later changed to a side entry clip, presumably to prevent cutting your wife’s priceless suede jacket that you still haven’t been forgiven for damaging.

#6. 4-Way Piece. Yes, that’s what the factory parts manual calls it. Not much of a description, is it? And, if you count the threaded ports, there are actually five! This may have been one of the trickiest parts in the contest. This 4-way piece is part of the braking system, and is located in the engine bay, on the right frame rail, below the starter switch. A steel brake line from the master cylinder attaches to one port. Two front brake lines and one rear brake line attach to three of the other ports. The brake light switch threads into the remaining port. One 4-way piece is required for all MGA’s EXCEPT Twin Cam and Deluxe. According to the Factory Manual, a 5-Way Piece is fitted to those cars, which of course has the same number of fittings as the previously described 4-Way Piece! So, this 5-Way Piece differs not in the number of ports, but in the thread pitch of one of the ports, to adapt to the Dunlop braking system.

#7. Screw – Bleeder. Bleeders are used to facilitate “bleeding” air from the brake and clutch hydraulic systems. Every MGA is fitted with bleeders, but not all MGAs are fitted with this part number! The correct answer for this question is: Brake Bleeder, Fits all MGA models except Twin Cam and Deluxe. Quantity is as follows: Four are used on the MGA 1500, and six on the MGA 1600. Here’s the explanation. The MGA 1500 has one wheel cylinder at each rear wheel with a bleeder at each. So, two bleeders. There are two wheel cylinders on each front corner, but only one bleeder at each wheel. On the MGA 1600, same two bleeders on the rear. But on the front, there are two bleeders fitted to each caliper, so a total of four on the front of the car. The twin cam and deluxe models utilized a Dunlop brand barking system as opposed to the Lockheed system. Thus, the bleeders were a different part number and a slightly different design. The Dunlop calipers were fitted with a bleeder which had a cup at the base and seated against a small steel ball. Owners of these cars should monitor these as the steel ##### are prone to rust and fluid leakage.

#8. Window Regulator. Everybody got this one right … except for me! Our winning contestant pointed out that the item illustrated was not exactly the design of the Coupe, and suggested it to be from a Magnette. Upon close inspection, the shape of the actual knob is indeed slightly different than the knob listed in the parts catalog. I went back to my parts bin and indeed found two versions that I had labeled as fitting the MGA Coupe. I’m sure I took them all off Coupes that were not salvageable, but I can’t guarantee they were original to the car. So, I guess I lost a point on that question!

#9 Spring – Oil Release Valve. One is fitted to each MGA, including the Twin Cam. Some people made a good guess in that this was the parking brake return spring, but that spring is much weaker.

#10. Bump Rubber – Rear Axle. Two fitted for all MGAs. This didn’t stump anyone.

#11. Hinge – Door. Four were fitted to all MGAs after Com. Number 56068. Prior to that, the hinges were of a slightly different design, and were paired. So, if you are struggling to get your hinges to fit, you might have mis-matched hinges.

#12. Washer – Fibre (Carburetor Float Chamber Lid). There are two of these very important washers fitted to ALL MGAs. Without them the float chambers do not function correctly.

NAMGAR would like to thank Bruce Woodson, Technical Editor, for creating this quiz.