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MG MGA - Help - headlamp trim

Hi,
I am nearing the end of my restoration, "Geri" is fully tuned, polished, looking and sounding great and my headlamps are adjusted up nicely. Problem - I can't seem to fit the chrome trims to them. They have never been fitted, just got them out of the box, but I just can't seem to work out how to get them on! Kind of a tad embarrassed that something that trivial is getting the better of me.

Does anyone out there in MGAland have any advice / photos of how to get them on? I w hoping to take her out for an inaugural spin this weekend as it looks like gloal warming is finally starting to work in England ;-)

Huge thanks in advance,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

I found that the new Lucas buckets I put on at the end of last year were wrongly made and that the headlamp rims wouldn't fit. The wedge on the top was too steep, and with a gentle bending with some pliers to make the angle a little less acute, the rims went on just fine.

dominic clancy

I put mine on last week and they were a fairly tight fit. First line them up with the rivet right at the top and hook the rim over the tab(s) on the headlamp bucket. Then 'hinge' them down and over the glass hoping that the hole in the bottom lines up with the speed nut so that the fixing screw will fit in. I had to have two or three goes to get them aligned because they were too tight to rotate. Mine were WIPAC trims...................Mike
m.j. moore

Hi Dominic,

I see, a little assisting recalibration. I'll give it a go. 12 years to get her this far, I'll report back hopefully at the weekend.

Cheers,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

Some replacement rims (particularly those with the actual rivet) are so small that you will have to stretch the opening to get them to go on. The ones with only the dimple (incorrect) will usually fit.
David Werblow

Grant,
I remember these were a b1tch to fit on my coupe two years ago. I think I adjusted the buckets with a file to get the rims on. I was refitting the original rims, but the buckets were new.
Peter.
P. Tilbury

Hi guys,
thanks for your advice. I ended up using a 1 inch coal chisel to bend the buckets to shape and then a highly calibrated IKEA table leg to assist the rims onto the bucket.

all the best,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

I will be interested to hear what you use when you one day have to get one off again!
dominic clancy

Dominic.
It is apparent that all he must do to remove the rim is to use the opposit(off) table leg from IKEA.
Sandy
DARNOC31

I imagine the leg has an IKEA name such as "WUMP"
Art Pearse

At last - a good use for an IKEA table leg!
Cam Cunningham

It's the precision engineering involved that I think is awesome
dominic clancy

Hi Grant

Have just got my MGA back on the road, and had exactly the same problem with some eastern repro rims; they were never going to fit, I even tried a plastic bucket in place of the metal ones with no joy. I l
Purchased another repro set, but UK made by a firm in Leeds, and they fitted like a dream.

Cheers

Dave
D Lawton

This thread was discussed between 06/06/2013 and 27/06/2013

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