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MG MGA - Fog Lamps - Factory/Dealer installation

Does anyone have an original factory/dealer installed twin Fog light setup on their MGA? That is with the relay and additional small wiring harness. I would like to know where the relay was originally mounted. Any photos would be great. I have read Barney's excellent article on fitting Fog lights, but I am particularly interested in the original set up. Thanks, Garry
Garry Kemm

Was there an original set up? I havn't seen any reference to a relay anywhere, but there was definitely an option for the lights, as wiring was included.
Gary Lock

Yes, the factory introduced a relay and separate harness for when TWO fog lamps are fitted. This was from chassis 55633, refer MGA1500 SPL page N7 or MGA1600 SPL page N9.
Garry Kemm

Garry, I asked a similar question here a couple of years ago but nobody seemed to know the original relay siting. However, it was definitely on the 'bulkhead' because the screws used to fix the relay are described in the 1600 SPL as 'screw - relay to bulkhead'.

I take 'bulkhead' to mean the vertical wall behind the heater but the relay could be on the front or the back. If the original Lucas relay was a SB40/1, as Clausager says, then it's likely to be on the dashboard side because I believe that the SB40/1 had a mounting strip welded to the top of the can rather than on the back ,as is more commonly seen on 6RA relays and I don't think this sort would look right mounted on the front unless it be tucked away on the right hand side corner near the M/C.

There's not a great deal of room for a relay on the bulkhead especially if you have a 1500. If, like me, you have a 1600 without the indicator relay you could position it next to the flasher unit.

I am putting two relays on mine, one for a pair of horns and the other for the foglamps and I've chosen this latter spot for them.

The picture shows one of the relays in position but not yet wired up and I'm planning to put the second immediately below it.........................Mike


m.j. moore

The relay (SB40) for the flasher switch went on the inside of the firewall , but that was probably for the convenience of the switch. The SB 40/1 that you have looks remarkably like SB40 that I have, except for the connections.
Gary Lock

Mike I know you are very particular about the detail. The screw for the normal flasher I thought was a cross head screw.
PS what labels have you used for the heater box? I couldn't find anything decent new so used the originals.
John
John Francis

John, You're right. I just looked into my bag of left over screws from Todd Clarke's F93 kit and, sure enough, there was a 5/16 Phillips PH screw in there. One extra job today. I got my heater plates from NTG but they weren't exactly as original e.g. the word 'CAUTION' is in red and not black as original plus the fonts on the SMITHS plate are a bit adrift but my originals were so poor I couldn't reuse them.

Gary, The relay in the picture isn't an SB40. I think the Lucas outline number is SRB111. It's a long time since I saw an SB40/1 but I think it was very similar to SB40 (see pic.).
I had been looking for a decent SB40/1 or SB40 on Ebay but they are quite rare and rather expensive - can be five times the cost of an SRB111. If I had got one I think a likely 'original' spot for it would have been on the firewall inside the car to the left of the main harness with the screw heads out of sight behind the heater..................Mike


m.j. moore

Mike
Interesting comment about the heater plates. I agree the Caution was in black but no one believed me when I questioned the red. I was hoping that Serge in Belgium might make some decent repro heater plates as his chassis plates are really good. John
John Francis

This thread was discussed between 15/02/2013 and 16/02/2013

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