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MG MGA - What they only tell you afterwards

I have modernised the headlights on a friend's MGA and fitted new reflectors, and because his old headlight rims were mismatched and a bit scuffed -up, bought a set on eBay. Should have looked at the seller more closely as it turned out.

I unpacked the rims in the workshop, and tried to fit them - no way they would fit. I then tried the well known trick of adjusting wedge tabs on the (original) buckets - still no way I could get them to clip on.

I then measured the ID of the new rims and the OD of the buckets. 2mm difference - which would have been fine if the rims were bigger than the buckets but unfortunately the buckets are bigger then the ID of the rims, so no amount of tweaking will ever get them to fit.

Then as I was putting them back in the packing I found the attached leaflet in the bottom of the box. It seems they were "intentionally" made smaller (yeah, I really believe it wasn't a tooling mistake) than original, but they only mention this with the delivery, and not in the listing, order confirmation or anywhere else. Check the current listing here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/mgtf-MGA-Bugeye-Sprite-Chromed-Headlight-Rims-w-Chrome-Rivet-SALE-/361770107715?hash=item543b2dc343:g:ftYAAOSwHjNWAIIV


Having not realised when buying that these came from NOS / SF, I didn't waste any time but just filed a "not as advertised" claim with eBay and received a refund. Surprisingly SF did react and said they could be made to fit, but when told I had tried everything except a BFH they actually apologised - and blocked my eBay account which has the benefit that I can never unintentionally buy from them again - so I came away feeling more like a winner than ever.

I should also say that the rims are very nicely made and do have a proper rivet in them, but are missing the tongue that the originals have to locate easily in the top of the mounting ring.

I finally went rooting around in the cellar and dug out a match for one of the original rims that was on the car - I had been intending to get an original set rechromed one day....

So these to me count as bad parts, as they cannot be fitted to original parts and have to be fitted as a set with new buckets

If anyone is interested in them for the cost of the postage, let me know asap before they land in the recycling - they apparently should fit to plastic buckets





dominic clancy

Just to save anyone grabbing them and again having problems, out of curiosity, I later tried the rims on my own car which has newish 3-adjuster buckets and they didn't fit on those either. The rims on my car are repro ones without a rivet (just a bump) and came from Moss. These fit the buckets like a glove, and don't need a screw to stay put. I did have to tweak the wedges on the buckets to make the Moss rims fit, but the NOS ones are nowhere near fitting, just as bad as on the original buckets on the other car
dominic clancy

I'm on my second set of chrome headlight rims in 10 years Dominic, they are chrome plated steel.
I tried to get chrome plated brass ones but couldn't find any.
The rims are still reasonably good but the "rubber?" dust seals that fit under them dissolved away to nothing after a few months and have disappeared.
Have you come across any decent seals in your quest for headlamp rims?

Cheers
Colyn

Colyn Firth

Colin
No idea, I am still on the set I bought almost thirty years ago......
dominic clancy

Colin
No idea, I am still on the set I bought almost thirty years ago......
dominic clancy

Colin
No idea, I am still on the set I bought almost thirty years ago......
dominic clancy

Colin
No idea, I am still on the set I bought almost thirty years ago......
dominic clancy

A good news supplier story, for a change.

Having had condenser and coil issues over the years a few months ago I decided to go Peritronix electronics. My distributor is the correct model for my early B engine but is a repro one I bought new from Moss a couple of years ago. When I tried to fit the unit, also bought from Moss, I found the plate inside the distributor didn't allow for the fitting of Peritronix unit. I rang them and they immediately dispatched an original used top plate which was compatible with the unit but not with the lower plate of the repro disi. Another quick call and they shipped me an original used bottom plate and all was, and is, fine. This was excellent service. Clearly the disi was a compatible repro externally but not internally. On a pretty cheap repro I don't think you can expect it be constructed exactly identical inside as long as it is compatible externally and in performance.

In summary excellent service from Moss, also useful that I had made both purchases from them.

Paul

PS Interestingly my last comments on the forum about Moss was also positive. In that case regarding their petrol tanks. I am afraid it hasn't always been so.
Paul Dean

Dominic, were the 4 identical replies a result of a sticky laptop key?

Or were you just making certain that, in spite of my being a Northerner, i would eventually come to understand your answer? 😁

Colyn

Colyn Firth

No idea what happened there, the PC just stalled and threw a wobbler and lo and behold.

Grew up "up North" so have been convinced for a long time that Northeners are a superior breed!

Dominic Clancy

But I now notice that my signature has been updated so it looks like the server was the source of the wobbler
Dominic Clancy

This thread was discussed between 18/10/2016 and 19/10/2016

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