Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Mx5 Gearbox Oil Level

You would think that if this is the case, Morgan would use an adapter plate between the gearbox front surface and the Bellhousing of the Ford engine.

Maybe they were tight for space.

I checked my Mazda gear box in the plus 4, its mated to the Mazda MZR 2.0 litre unit (supersport engine). I put a small spirit level on gear box casting at 90 degrees to the driveline i.e. across the the car.. viewing from under the bonnet it did appear that the box was cranked over about 10 degrees. I intend to investigate further by jacking the car up on the passenger side and measuring how much oil needs to be added when the unit is level.
Incidentally, i wonder how this engine/gearbox unit sits in the MX5 from which it was lifted, was the gearbox installed level thus tilting the engine 10 degrees past the 12 o clock position

Jacked the passenger side of the car up today until my little spirit level placed on the "flange" (which is not absolutely flat, there's a casting "edge" on it) indicated that the box was level. There was a slight see saw action on the spirit level due to the aforementioned casting "edge" but it resulted in only half a bubble either side of the spirit level centre line and so was considered "level". I removed the fill plug, i had already ascertained that the oil level was upto the fill plug whilst the car was parked on leve ground.
I topped up the gearbox oil whilst it was "level" (car jacked up) and was able to get 270ml additional fluid into the box at which point it overflowed. I've left it at that level. I originally put in 2 US quarts of Redline 75 90 equating to 1.892 litres when the car was on level ground. Gearbox capacity to filler plug leve would appear to be 2.162 litres or there abouts.

Did you happen to measure how far it was jacked up to save using level in the future, as that may be useful for others.
I struggled to find a suitable location for the level so merely increased height by 2 inches by driving onto a length of 7 x 2. That resulted in just an extra 150 ml going in. I note from your experience that you now have a little over the 2 litres that Mazda specify. I guess if it is a lot over, then seepage could occur through external shafts? worth keeping an eye on it especially when moving the car after a longer period of rest.

I thought about that afterwards and i didn't measure the amount of lift. I will do that imminantly. I did think about the internal oil level at the shaft seals but decided rightly or wrongly) that modern seals should withstand it.

Ha Ha - I just bought a 2003 Mazda Miata yesterday. After reading this I thought I should check My new Miata. Went outside to check this morning? - I have an Automatic!!!!!!!!!

The gearbox will be canted around the input/output shaft alignment, so the oil level should not impact on the seals

BUT, if it were tilted over a bit TOO much allowing more than the recommended 2 litre volume to be filled, then surely the level could possibly be above the shafts. That’s why I was interested in exactly how high Lowflyer had raised it off the ground to get about 8% more in than recommended.

True. I should have added, providing the level plug is not above the horizontal...………….

I'll get out Monday in order to check the height that i raised the car to achieve a level gearbox. While i think on, I'm on 15" wire wheels shod with 65 profile tyres which of course will affect results slightly with differing wheel sizes and tyre profiles.
As an aside i spoke to AK Motors in Rowlands Gill, MX 5 Specialists who did say that the engine was canted 10 degrees clockwise (viewed from the drivers seat) making the gearbox level, unfortunatly we didn't specify the mx 5 model / year.