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MG MGA - Fender Mounted Mirrors

I have a 1961 MGA 1600. I am not sure as to why some pictures show fender mounted mirrors and some don't but nevertheless I have a set to put on them from Moss and I was wondering if anyone knows if their is a measurement from the front or back end of the fender that I should use to mount them in the correct place? Thanks in advance for all of your help!
Dan
P.S. I had a leaking water pump so I ordered a new one...it looks pretty straight forward but any advice for installation other than the obvious is welcome also. I got a new fan belt and a new gasket to go with it.
DMC Dan Carty

Mirrors were not factory installed. They were installed at the dealer or by the customer. So pick whatever mirror you want and put it wherever you think it looks nice. I have a single long arm mirror on the driver's side.

http://www.lbcnuts.com/mg/mga/dscn9769.jpg
Steve Simmons

Put the mirrors on the doors, not the fenders, would be the advice I would offer. You get a better field of view in the mirror, and they can be adjusted from the drivers seat. On the fenders they are also a real pain as they get in the way when doing any work on the engine.

You also then have the aesthetic benefit of keeping a clean line on the fender
dominic clancy

For goodness sake don't put them on the fenders (wings)they will be apain in the *** and you'll never see a thing out of them. They will also spoil the lines of the car.

Phil Parmenter
P Parmenter

Hi Dan, Mine are fitted on the wings ( fenders) and were there when i got the car. The official place to put them is in line with the wheel centre but that would be too far away to see in them clearly.Mine are fitted slightly closer than that . A door mounted one would be easier to see out of and as Dominic says , you can adjust them when seated. I can see well out of mine although it is a pain adjusting them - but they are essential when you are carrying anything on the luggage rack. I have not really found them a problem when working on the engine but I think I would think twice about drilling the fender if I didn't have them fitted already. Fitting the water pump is not a problem - it is the dismantling of the radiator etc that takes the time - I usually use a sealant on the gasket when fitting - red hermetite is my favourite but rather messy. Cheers Cam
C Cunningham

Dan,

I had fender mounted mirrors which were useless. I had the holes welded up when I had my body makeover. I'm now looking to mount mirror(s) on either the doors or preferably, on the windshield supports. I believe Bob West in the U.K. has a tailor made mounting plate. Can anyone confirm this?

Dan Barton
Dan Barton

I have a fender mounted mirror and have never had a problem with visibility. It a Lucas style as sold by Moss, mounted at the back of the wheel arch. I can reach it from the drivers seat to adjust it. I have a coupe, so maybe the windscreen allows a better view than a roadster would.

Bill
Bill Boorse

Your primary concern should be to place them where they are most useful. Esthetics be damned--it's more important to be able to see behind AND beside you. With the top up, you've got some pretty big blind spots.
R. L Carleen

I mount the exterior mirro on my race car on the door - it is rather important that I be able to see things.

On the street car, it is in conventional place on the fender, and it is also useful, but needs to be carefully set up with a helper and woe betide anyone that brushes against it and misaligns it!

The steel of the fender takes the strain, if any, better than the alloy doors, but having said that, no one should be hanging off your mirror, nor should you have to be constantly adjusting it, so it shouldn't matter.
Bill Spohn

I think they are ugly as h#ll. If they are mounted on the front fender they are hard to align and almost worthless. If you mount them on the door they are useful but ugly and an extra hole in the door is a sacrilege. I have heard there are mirrors that mount to the windshield pillar without damaging any thing. The hot rod builders and suppliers make those type of mirrors. One of my employees built a hot rod out of a 60 ford panel truck. All external trim, including door handles were removed. Small round mirrors were placed at the upper corners of the windshield pillars. They were very effective and attractive. The Lucas mirrors are too big for around the door/windshield to look good and are too small to be effective way out front.
Don't ruin the beautiful lines of your car with those ugly mirrors. DONT drill extra holes.
R J Brown

Doors, wings, windsheild, your choice I suppose. Mirrors mounted to the windshield post would probably foul the side curtains when opening the door if you ever run with the top and side curtains installed. If you're considering a mirror with a long base rather than the single post type arm, and considering mounting on the wings (fenders) then you might consider buying a couple of good disc magnets. You can mount the mirrors to these and then attach them to the car and get a good idea of your field of vision in various positions before you drill any holes. For reference try checking the mirror field in your daily driver and mark spots on a garage wall or such to compare the field with, then move the A into the same position as the other car and position the mirrors to try to duplicate the same field.
Bill Young

After seeing a picture of a mirror mount that mounts on the windshield post made by Bob West, I made a pair for my car. They do not interfere with the top or the side curtains, and can be removed easily leaving no extra holes behind. They are in a good position for use, and do not vibrate like the one on the dash. I often hear the remark "I wish I had done that instead of mounting them on the fenders." from other MGA owners.
Ed Bell

Dan, as you can see, the subject of mirrors is a purely subjective thing. I can recommend that you find someone near to you and sit in their car. Determine for yourself whether they will work for you.

Personally, I have two fender mounted, lucas style, convex mirrors. They are placed about 3/4 of the way thru the wheel well, behind the wheel centers. This is where I have seen the factory rally cars place them. They give me very good visibility even with the hood up. If the passenger side were even 2 inches further forward, it would be blocked by the rear view mirror.

If you are up in the Chicago area, you are welcome to see how they work. The car is in storage right now but in 6 more weeks......

Chuck

Chuck Schaefer

Chuck
Where in Chicago are you? I am in Aurora.

Mark
M Gannon

Mark,

I was in Crystal Lake up till last July. Now I'm right down the street from you in West Chicago.

Chuck
Chuck Schaefer

I really like Steve Gyles's approach. I think there's a thread on this in the archives. Here's a link to photos of his piller mounted mirrors that get them into useful position without butchery.

http://freespace.virgin.net/stephen.gyles/rear_view_mirrors.htm

Perhaps he'll pipe in with procurement information
Regards,
Doug
D Sjostrom

Nice to see Steve's mrror mountings - Wish I had them on mine instead of the wing(fender) mounted ones as they look a lot neater and don't deface the car's body work. Steve mentions on the photos that the adapter is from Bob West - the MGA specialist in Yorkshire UK - no doubt Steve will be on line shortly to give deatils of cost etc. Cheers Cam
C Cunningham

A reason for fender mounting might be that the old plastic side curtains were difficult to see through after a few years and fender mounts were viewed through the (glass) windshield.
HJ
Harley

I've gotta side with what I think is the majority of folks posting here and say forget the wing mount mirrors. I've got them on three of our MGs (all installed by the POs) and I don't like them on any of the cars. They are almost totally useless and I believe they distract from the rest of the car. Especially the MGA's clean flowing lines. Someone mentioned that this subject is very subjective which is very true. So, if ya lik'em, do'em.

Cheers - Dennis
Dennis & Pat Rainey

I made mirror brackets for the windshield frame. The car is in the middle of being painted so I don't have any pictures of the mounted bracket. See the brackets at:

http://tinyurl.com/auqeb/Mirror2.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/auqeb/Mirror4.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/auqeb/Mirror7.jpg

These were made of aluminum formed around the post and polished for a bright finish. The mirror is held in place with a chrome acorn nut and mounts to the lower frame screw. I made them horizontal instead of the design Bob West did.

Jim
Jim Ferguson

One more thing to add. If you are in the habit of putting a car cover on your car, the fender mounted mirrors DO make it a very tight fit. Almost always plan an having to readjust the mirros after removing the cover. Of course this has a lot to do with the cover itself.

Chuck
Chuck Schaefer

Well, the water pump went on withput a hitch! New belt makes that alternator work better too. I'm still undecided about the mirrors but have not had anyone to hold them to where I could see where they work best for me at. But thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it!
dc
DMC Dan Carty

Regardless where you mount them make sure you buy the convex mirror not the flat mirror as vision will be a lot better. When I got my car it had one mirror mounted on the fender on the drivers side. I added another to the fender on the passenger side. I agree vision isn't great and the rear view mirror does interfere with the pass. side mirror. One solution is to mount the rear view mirror back an inch or so. I (personal opinion) like the look of the fender mirror but when it comes time for body and paint I will look at the other options.
Kris
Kris Sorensen

There is also another perhaps even more elegant way to mount Lucas mirrors to the sideposts. A friend of mine combined the post of the dash mirror with the upper part of an Lucas style mirror, then slightly rasped the base of the post to fit the curve of the sidepost and finally screwed to the sidepost using one existing and adding one additional thread to the sidepost.
Looks good and works good too!

Peter
peter sauer

This thread was discussed between 15/02/2006 and 16/02/2006

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