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MG MGA - Baby It's Cold Outside!

Fifteen below zero this morning. Ten below yesterday. Won't be driving the A anytime soon. The long winter's nap continues...
Tom Dimock

Ouch. I grew up in upstate (western) NY, near Buffalo, so I know how cold it can get there. And SO MUCH SNOW. Plus you can't drive until April, when the salt is no longer used on the roads, otherwise you risk corrosion.

Now I complain when the temps here in Southern California drop below 60F. Everybody shivers!
Jim Paul

Hi folks. Living in Canada, near the Great Lakes, brings typical winter temperatures anywhere from -20F to -40F, and TONS of snow. As I write, we have a blizzard, with near white out conditions. For anyone living in warm places, please count your blessings, and have a top down MGA ride in celebration! Cheers! snowbound Glenn
Glenn

Short Sleeve weather in Daytona Beacch,Florida. almost 70 What a Great Day!!
Tom

Hey Tom (Dimock),
Missed you at the last couple of "First Tuesday" meetings. The next one is on Ground Hog's day...maybe he won't see his shadow and you can drive your car to the meeting. Right....
It's warmed up to +4 according to my thermometer, but snowing pretty hard still. Glad my garage is heated. Maybe I'll have that car done by spring...not!

Gerry
G T Foster

Hi-
It was -32*F last night here in Malone NY...that's upstate, 10 miles from canadian border..What a pain,trying to get the top up in this weather. Just kidding of course...the mga's and the E-type are sleeping in their heated garage. I visit them every day and putter...this week's project was to install a third brake light setup on the mga roadster. It seems to work well so I made one for the E-type coupe. Both were done without drilling holes in the body..I used a 22 led brake light strip purchased via the internet...DOT approved it's similar to ones offered in JC Whitney etc, but @ 9' long 3/4 " high and 3/4 ' deep.,oblong in shape. On the MG, I merely made a bracket out of ABS and painted it the body color, gooped a strip of magnetic strip on the bottom, wired it to the brake lightbulb receptacle and voila! The LED draws virtually no power and is very bright.I designed it to fit so it's still operative with tonneau and/ or top up.It sticks well without marring paint and is removeable.The light was @25 USD..Whitney, etc sells them for half, but this one has more LED's. In my opinion, we can't have enough brake light eminating from our cars, especially in daytime..Jeff Zorn also sells the halogen taillight bulbs (Little British Car CO)..I think I'll put one on my MGA coupe vintage racer as well! There is a site offering LED lights which might be modified to fit inside MGA housings .
Waiting for spring
John Coryea
58 roadster 1800
59 coupe vintage racer
63 Xke 3.8 tri-carb coupe
John Coryea

I was in northren Calif on Thur and it was cold...46 degrees, then I had to come home to Southern Calif and it was 86 degrees. Time to put on my swimming trunks, and take the MG out for a spin. I will smile for everyone who can't ;)
JEFF BECKER

Yes, but it's a dry cold, eh.
Art

I drove my car today. The temperature was about 57F, unseasonably warm, usually about 45-50, the wind was blowing about 25-30 mph. I was more concerned with the limbs falling off the trees than anything else. The weatherman call it the Pineapple Express, you can look on the weather map and see that the storm track comes all the way from Hawaii.
We had a pretty bad cold snap the week before last. "Up in these parts" the road department puts down sand, or I should say gravel when the roads get icy. The roads still had a lot of gravel on the sides and the middle of the road. So I had some worry about the gravel coming up off the road from other cars. I put about 15 miles on the car, as I usually take a drive around the loop, which is a little a country driving and a little town driving.
Anyway, I got home safely, I called the kids and asked them guess what I did today. My daughter knew right away what I did. "You the drove the MG".

Ray


Ray Ammeter


ROY;;
I could not miss this chance. I would guess that your AMMETER is reading high on the plus side.
51* in west central Florida now but going to 27-28* tonight for a hard freeze for at least 5-6 hours.
Sandy Sanders
Hudson Florida
conrad sanders

Sandy,
I could not resist this either. This Ammeter is always reading high on the plus side.

You take care and don't forget to throw a blanket around your "orange tree". I suppose at a bone chilling 27-28 F, you folks think the world has turned upside dwon and start heading to the store to stock up on blankets and heating pads. I have heard that when it does get below 32F in Florida the Authorities close all the roads, since no one knows how to drive near or below freezing.

Hey you started it,

Ray

P.S. I must admit there are a few of our drivers up here that panic everytime they see a snow flake.
But we just assume they are from Florida.
Sorry,it is hard to stop.
Ray Ammeter

Ray -

There are drivers here that panic when they see *rain*! I can't understand it. I'm currently working a contract at Cingular in Bothell so I drive 68 miles each way to and from work (thankfully it's only until Spring). If it rains it adds an hour to the drive into work. Go figure. The warm weather has been nice. The crocuses are already a couple inches above ground. I think I can take my potted avacado and lemon trees back outside pretty soon. :-)

David Breneman

Well it was 26 F this morning in sunny Pensacola....don't know about the wind chill--but it was out of the NW and quite brisk. Looks like most of the country is in the grips of a serious freeze. At least I don't have to worry about salted roads(except for storm surges--and they usually take the road, too). Last time it snowed here was '93, and we got about two inches of wet stuff that melted off within a day. No traffic problems that were any worse than a heavy rain, either.
R. L Carleen

Quote
"There is a site offering LED lights which might be modified to fit inside MGA housings".

John,
Please advise the website info for the led lights. I have halogens for the rear lights but I am dissappointed in the difference between the filaments. I have been told that you can hardly tell when my brake lights come on, or signals too.
mgajoe

mgajoe wrote:
"Please advise the website info for the led lights. I have halogens for the rear lights but I am dissappointed in the difference between the filaments. I have been told that you can hardly tell when my brake lights come on, or signals too."


I just noticed the same problem with the halogen bulbs from LBC -- the flasher (single-filament) bulb works well but the brake bulb (dual-filament 1157) doesn't get any brighter when the second filament is lit. I found a website that sells led bulb replacements for 1157s but can't tell if they will fit into an MGA housing. Also not sure if they would really be any brighter than regular tungsten bulbs, although they will draw less current.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/1156-x30.htm
Jim Paul

Jim,
These lights look interesting. Hopefully someone who knows more about electrics than me will comment.
mgajoe

One thing to consider that is often overlooked is that our cars do not have side lights. It is the side illumination from the tail lights that does this. LED bulbs are MUCH more directional that filament types. So, has anyone who is using the LED bulbs looked at the side visibility of the lights compared to filament types?

FWIW

Larry
58A with Halogen tail lights supplemented with LED "bars" on both sides of the license plate.
Larry Hallanger

MGAJoe-
I don't recall the specific website, but if you do a google search for LED's, I'm sure you'll find some..Mine came through an E-bay auction..I used the aforementoned third brake light as such, knowing that they ,by design ,do not emit lateral light, but great for what's BEHIND you..
All the best,
JC
John Coryea

This thread was discussed between 22/01/2005 and 27/01/2005

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