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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - sealed beam vs bulb

I am in the process of putting together the headlight buckets for a TF1500 completing restoration. I have 4 lucas bulb headlights but I am not sure whether they are even legal anymore. I would assume the sealed beam are preferable. Not sure how to clean up the ones I have or whether it is worth the effort or the cost to have it done commercially. I see where Moss sells what I believe is a plug conversion for the wiring harness but nut sure what the standard sealed beam would be for the TF. Any thoughts, the archive had very little on the subject...
R Brown

The originals would be legal as they were original equipment. I doubt that you would be ever hassled. If the reflectors are dingy send them to be replated and then put a modern halogen or xenon bulb in them to increase the lumens. I was not blessed with them in my basket case so I chose to get the pl700 tri bar sealed lenses. They are not legal and Moss states as much in their advertising. Again I doubt they will ever be scrutinized as they are a period item and were on many high end sports cars. If you choose to go a modern sealed beam headlight and wish to sell your originals later on I would be interested in them for my restoration

Regards

Bill Chasser jr
TD4834
W. A. Chasser Jr

Actually the original bulb type were never legal in the US in the 1950's. They had to be outfitted by sealed beams immediately. I am not sure they even had headlamps in the cars when shipped. I know they were not on the cars and that is one of the items that had to be installed when they were being prepped.

According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong :-)

Sealed beam headlamps were introduced in the United States in 1939, and became mandatory from the following year until the 1984 model year.

So bulb lamps actually might in fact be more legal today than in the 50's because of the change in 1984 allowing for bulb replacement lamps.

Some people I know run the originals in their car.
Christopher Couper

My TF still has the original Lucas sealed beam headlamps. They look just like the ones available with a removable bulb, but the bulbs are permanently bonded to them.
David
D. Sander

Bob
Both the TD I have owned had Bulbs fitted. To be fair this was England not the USA
I did not know sealed beam were available?
I now have a set of sealed beam units form Moss via LBCC. They work fine and dip the correct way for the USA :)
Light wise I think they are much better then the bulbs with silvered reflectors.
Lucas Headlamp, each 162-726 $62.95
They are Halogen and I believe it was Dave Dubois who said you really need relays to get the full brightness.
and take the stress out of the ignition/light switch
I have yet to fit those - but plan to soon.

Rod

R. D. Jones

The inputs have been helpful. I really don't plan on driving at night unless forced to. The two lane roads in Maine can get a little hairy at night. Between the moose, deer and dumb drivers we have more than our share of head on crashes. So I have probably two choices. Use an off the shelf sealed beam not lucas or halogen but don't know the number for the bulbs. Not even sure if they are stocked any more but I did see some on Mosss's site so I suspect they are available. If anybody has the commercial product number please let me know.
Given I don't plan to drive at night I could probably simply use the lucas bulb option. Not being familiar with the setup is there a way to adjust for the problem of "dipping the wrong way". Is it the reflector or the bulb which affects the direction when you use the high beams. Which I assume is to the right in the UK and left here.
Has anybody dealt with this?
Bill, I will keep your request in mind and let you know after I decide what I plan to do with any spare lucas lenses.
R Brown

Sealed beam units are no longer available in the UK and I guess not in the USA. Besides by modern day standards they are very poor although better than BPF bulbs. For headlights that you can reallly use, you need H4 bulbs and best to install them with relays - very easy to do as you just connect to the harness on one side of the car only for the switch circuit and run a separate heavy gauge power lines through a fuse direct from the battery to power the new bulbs. The existing dash switch and dip then runs very low current to operate the relays which switch big current through the H4 bulbs and fuse. They are higher output because they are better, more efficient bulbs and there is less resistance in the wiring. Of course it also helps if you fit an alternator.
Dave H
Dave Hill

R. Brown. Nothing you can do as an adjustment for using a right dipping beam in a left country and vice versa. Its built into the lamp. If you tried to adjust for it then the lamps would point the wrong way when non dipped and it would be worse.

Best just to get the correct dipped bulbs in your area.
Christopher Couper

I guess the only confusion I have is the car I have is a left hand drive car and to the best of my knowledge the cans, bulbs and headlight wiring came with the car. Therefore what did the dealer do in those days to meet the US requirement. There is no evidence that this car ever had sealed beam headlights. Could it be that I have the proper bulbs?? How can you tell? would they have markings ??
R Brown

Dave H.

As of yesterday the auto parts stores were full of seal beam head lights. Of course here in Florida we discontinued motor vehicle inspections in 1977. Still can not find a statistical change in safety.

Regards,

Jim Haskins
J. M. Haskins

R Brown: There is a code on the glass that tells you what dipping it has.

Can you send me a picture of your light too?
Christopher Couper

Chris,

Here is a picture the number on the face in the right hand corner is 535796. at the bottom 700 Headlamp, made in England.
The replacement sealed beam I now believe would be 6012 but it is no longer available and I 6014 replaces it...


R Brown

Bob.
IF you car was purchased in the US - it most likely has right side dipping lenses fitted. It is all to do with those prism things in the lenses.
When I was leaving England and driving on Germans roads [Who drive on the other side] I got form the AA some black wedge shapes to stick on the lens to remove the high part of the dip beam that would shine into oncoming drivers eyes In England this would normally light up only the pavement side of the view ahead.
It was a temp fix till you could purchase right hand dipping lenses.
The way to tell is point your car at the rear wall in the garage and turn on your Main beams. When you dip them - the beam should only be higher one he right hand side of each lamp and lower directly in front [Dipped] Some light is normally allowed to illuminate the sidewalk - hence it is higher on the right hand side.
If you have the wrong lenses for the US The high part of the Dip Beam will be on the Left Side
i.e. Into on coming traffic.
A Temp fix is to put a small wedge of duck tape on the lens to mask out the high part of the Dipped Beam.
Trial and error will show you what works.

Leave your garage door open and run the car to save the battery :)

Rod
R. D. Jones

Rob: I tried to find a list of the codes on the internet and came up empty. My lights, for right hand drive cars, is marked 553796.

Either you are dyslexic or your lamp may be a left hand drive lens and you are good to go. Just two of your digits are swapped with mine :-)

Rods way is the only sure fire way to tell which dipping you have though.
Christopher Couper

Chris your correct it is 553796. Old eyes I guess. While we are on the subject, I bought replacement bezels and found they did have a clip on the inside opposite from the screw hole. There is a rivet but no clip. Is something missing??
R Brown

Bob,
This is the lamp from My TD
The rim has two things. A solid tang - for want of a better word - that fits into a slot on the bottom left of the bucket. The top is secured by a clip and chrome screw.
Inside the rim is a piece with a rivet and it has two tangs that are bent up to engage in slots in the glass lamp - to locate it in the proper orientation.
Mine have broken off through presumably too many times being bent to fit lamps :)
Or a hand fisted mechanic who did not know what they were for.
It does not matter that much if they are not there.

You will need the 3 clips (minimum) to hold the light into the rim. See picture. Very hard to show but make sure you have the top of the light at the top of the rim.
You can mount the clip and screw in the bucket loosely and just tighten it to hold when ready.
If you got a new Rim I would expect the pieces all to be there.
I will send you all the pics I took - if you want them.
The lamps I got form Moss are not Lucas. They are
Wagner 12.8v 6014 DOTH93 60/50W G3 and they work great.

Rod


R. D. Jones

Thanks Rod, the TD fits a bucket whereas the TF fits a more conventional fender mount. The only reason I suspected a clip riveted to the rim is that I have what I thought was a TF rim which has the clip and the one I bought just has the rivet.

Can any mgtf owners out there confirm whether there is a clip riveted to the inside similar to the one in the picture???



R Brown

This thread was discussed between 23/05/2015 and 25/05/2015

MG TD TF 1500 index

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