MGA Twin Cam Barn Find

[jhynesrockmtn]

I helped a buddy pick up an MGA Twin Cam yesterday that has been stored since about 1965. The owners brother bought the car in the early 60's, blew the original motor (3 of 4) pistons had huge holes in them, and replaced it with an MGB motor. The owner then got it from his brother, drove it for a few years and then parked it. It has been stored ever since. The original motor came with the car along with a complete new head that was in a BMC wooden box. The car was stored well. We put air in the original tires and rolled it onto the trailer. I felt like I was in an episode of Chasing Classic Cars.





Getting ready to roll it out




The hand off




Stored in the shop under a Boxster waiting for a motor



The original motor

[onewhippedpuppy]

Very cool. Looks like it should clean up nicely.

[Laneco]

VERY cool! Such pretty little cars!

angela

[Evans, Marv]

After having had three sports cars from that era, I'd love to have another - MGA, Austin Healey, Triumph, I wouldn't care.

[VincentVega]

Excellent, really like MGA's.

[herr_oberst]

It looks like something hard was rattling around in three of the bores for quite a while! That had to make a racket.

That is a nice car. It's gonna clean up great, and I love how the luggage rack follows the curve of the trunk (or 'boot' as our English-speaking cousins say).

If it was mine, I'd get a hard top for it, because a hard top is a perfect place to paint a Union Jack on a MGA twin cam...

[Don Ro]

Neat little rig.
.
When I was a pup, my neighbor had a baby blue MGA with wire wheels..he loved to putz with it. Was always in his garage with the hood open...bent over and tuning it with his Uni Sync.
I remember the inside door latch was a cable that you pulled down to open the door.
For some reason, he took a liking to me and would take me out for Italian tuning spins now/then.
.
Years later he sold it and began building a lakester, with a Ford flathead, in his garage. I used to go over there and hand him tools.
I loved it!

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

The original motor

Those cam chains/housing are pretty beefy for such a small engine.

[sammyg2]

That musta been the dreaded 4th to 1st downshift!

[Bill Douglas]

JB Weld should fix that.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

JB Weld should fix that.

U beat me to it....sum JB Weld oughta fix er up real nice...

[gshase]

Nice find....did you do a compression test?

[Doug E]

Very nice find. My Dad had a Twin Cam when I was growing up ... lots of great memories of the car.

Enjoy !

[daepp]

Didya get any shots of the head in the wooden crate?

Very cool find BTW. Have you ever read The Cobra in the Barn?

[tcar]

Nice Dunlop knock-offs...

The twin cam was famous for holeing pistons.

Saw this the other day on a site:

"...MG offered an optional high-performance engine with dual overhead cams, thus the "twin cam." It was a leaking, piston-burning, plug-fouling nightmare of a motor that required absolute devotion to things like ignition timing, fuel octane and rpm limits, less the whole shebang vomit connecting rods and oil all over the road. Many years after the engine was taken out of service, it was discovered that the problem lay in the carburetors. At certain rpm, resonant frequencies would cause the fuel mixture to froth, leaning out the fuel and burning the pistons."

Be careful.

[LWJ]

I have a buddy with probably the best running twin cam in the world. He rebuilt the thing and is exacting. PM me for his contact info. He can hook your buddy up with the right people and avoid the wrong ones. Damn. I WANT a twin cam!

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by gshase

Nice find....did you do a compression test?

Now that is funny right there..

[Scuba Steve]

Cool car! Also a perfect candidate for an LS sawp!

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by gshase

Nice find....did you do a compression test?

Zero leakdown was the bright spot on that front...

[rattlsnak]

so, what does something like that sell for? (ballpark is fine if you don't want to disclose).