Mg ta engine rebuild

[Valkyrja]

After being stopped numerous times, during the tear down, I am having difficulties getting the flywheel off. Any trick tools that I am missing, that would do the job?
Also the thread at the snout of the crankshaft is stripped and one head stud is broken off in the block. I am beginning to give up on rebuilding this myself. Are there any machine shops in the Midwest that work on TA engines? If not the Midwest, who would you recommend work on it in the United States?
The clutch also needs resurfacing, where can that be done?

[Steve Simmons]

can't help on local shops, but I've found a rubber mallet useful to loosen a stubborn flywheel. If it's like the TC, there are a couple dowels that can corrode in there and make it hard to remove. Just be careful, because when it comes loose it will drop right off on your foot.

The studs aren't too hard of a metal, so you should be able to drill into it and use a combination of heat and an extractor to get it out. Worst case you may have to drill the hole and install a thread insert.

[ROGER FURNEAUX]

As Steve says, you should be able to drill the stud: start with a centre-drill (very short, so they don't wobble about) and gradually work up in size. With a bit of luck you might be able to get the bits out with a scriber and a magnet. A thread insert might work, if there is enough metal at that point to enlarge the hole.. The crankshaft "snout", as you call it, is a 12x1.5mm thread, so get a bottoming tap and clean it up. You might get lucky!

[Valkyrja]

I have tried a steel hammer and a block of wood on the flywheel and there is no movement. I don’t know if it would matter, because the engine is seized and I can’t rotate the crankshaft to hit the flywheel at another spot. It is the same reason the blot on the front is stripped. I haven’t used heat on it yet, because I didn’t want to damage the spigot bearing in the flywheel. It looks like that will have to come out to get something on the flywheel to pull it off.

[Steve Simmons]

If you can't rotate the flywheel, try hitting it on both sides, both on and off. That might allow it to rock a little bit and break loose. Or better yet, just remove the crankshaft and do it on the workbench. You could probably use a press as a last resort.

[Valkyrja]

On the TAs you can only hit it from the backside where the starter goes, everything else is closely surrounded by the aluminum housing the seals the wet clutch from “leaking” oil.
I can’t pull the crankshaft, because how it is seized, only allows me to get at 1/2 the rod bolts and even if I could remove the rods the crankshaft is surrounded by the housing that has bolts attached to it behind the flywheel.
I am about ready to scrap it and put an LS motor in it

[Rob Reilly]

I presume this is an MPJG engine?
Do you have the factory Instruction Manual?
I faced the same problem once with a Jaguar XK140 engine, the pistons were seized in the bores due to being outside for umpteen years.
The old principle applies, wreck the cheap easily replaced part to save the expensive hard to replace part.
I had to destroy the pistons, then the crank would turn.
Do it gently so as not to wreck the bores.
There are machine shops that can make any piston.
Some PO of my TA must have got fed up with his MPJG because now it has an MGA engine and trans.
It works but it's not the best solution.
Many TA owners put in an XPAG or XPEG engine and trans, making it a TB.

[Bill Davis]

Valkyrja,
My MPJG flywheel didn’t want to come off either. I can’t remember exactly, but I may have had the spigot bearing removed when I used a puller. I fashioned it from two pieces of angle iron, a couple of spacers (copper pipe) and a re-configured puller from a Harbor Freight set. I used a copper hammer on the end of the puller-bolt often to help it release.

If you can’t remove the spigot bearing then use something inside it to build it out so the puller has something pressing against the flywheel.

This is assuming you have already removed the 4 flywheel bolts. My aligning pins came out easily enough, still stuck in the flywheel, using that puller.

One post was unclear. Have you removed the aluminum bell housing from the engine? Photos would be helpful.

Don’t give up. You can do it.
Bill
http://www.billdavis.org/MGTA/