In the MGA, the five bolts at the front end of the engine oil pan are located above the frame front suspension cross member. This makes for tight access space and a bit of a fiddle to get those bolts out (and back in) to R&R the sump with engine in situ.

For the MGA Twin Cam this job was even more exasperating, because the cast aluminum sump was larger, with less access space. Fairly early in MGA Twin Cam production the factory added five holes in the frame front suspension cross member to provide in-line access for a socket wrench to R&R those five bolts. These holes can be added to the frame of other MGA cars to make future servicing a little easier.

Eclectic Motorworks in Holland, Michigan has made templates for locating these holes, to be cut with a hole saw, and has posted a web page showing the procedure.

"We needed to duplicate these holes in our crossmember, so a fiberglass pattern was taken of an original Twin Cam crossmember. This enabled us to properly locate the top holes. As the bottom of the crossmember is essentially flat, a paper pattern was made to locate those holes. Once the centers had been marked the holes were drilled with a properly-sized hole saw".