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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 MGF Technical - HID conversion kits

Has someone already fitted one of these kits in an F or TF ?
there are plenty of these on ebay for under 200€/£120 and I wonder what's the quality and effectiveness...
for example :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8029499986

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8029805038
Fabrice

Nobody ??? (this forum isn't anymore what it used to be...)

at least the HID conversion has been done somewhere by somebody :
http://www.xenonupgrades.com/gallery/mgtf_6000_01.jpg

And here is some very interesting reading :
http://www.toyotaimportsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5590&perpage=15&pagenumber=1
Fabrice

or this one with the fogs on and 8000k xenons:
http://www.xenonupgrades.com/gallery/MGTF_8000_03.jpg
Fabrice

I think on an F the increased heat would probably cause the bowl to go cloudy quicker than it usually does...

Ian Matheson

Ian has a point. Many modern cars use high performance plastics for the headlamp moulding which can take the higher temperature. We might be better waiting for led headlamps to become more widely available - and meanwhile get the reflectors recoated

Chris
Chris

Do HIDs get hotter than normal halogen's?
Steve Ratledge

According to this, the heat is only momentarily higher and then it settles to actually be cooler than Halogen. So surely the bowl would not actually suffer??

Your thoughts?

"Factory Halogen
Halogen bulbs are used in the majority of vehicles today but are being slowly phased out for XENON equivalents or HID. Halogen bulbs have a tungsten filament that are of a high resistence. Once electrical current passes through it then it heats up and emits light. The technology is inefficient and generates a lot of heat. Low Beam for the Soarer requires a 55w bulb with hi beams being 65w.

Aftermarket Xenon
As technology advanced some bright spark (sorry for pun) discovered that using heavy larger molecule gases such as Xenon would slow down the deteriation of the tungsten filament and thus would last a lot longer. Along with the added gas many Xenon bulb makers also tint the bulb with shades of blue to give the light a cooler "Kelvin"..more on this later. The same wattage requirements are needed for xenon as listed above for halogen. The real benefit of Xenon is it's extended life and a blue tinge if that's the look you are after.

HID Technology
HID is set up very differently from it's Halogen based counterparts. Instead of a Tungsten filiment it has two electrodes. An additional HID Ballast is needed to store up and generate a massive 25,000 volts across the two electrodes to excite XENON gas (and other gases) inside the tube. The excitment of the xenon produces light photons. Voltage then drops to normal levels and the bulb actually operates a lower ongoing wattage of only 35w. This means that HID runs a lot cooler, uses less power but produces more than three times the light output."

Kris F
Kris

Well, it looks as though someone needs to go out and try this...

Hmm - could be in Hong Kong next week - so perhaps I should look these guys up? :o)
Rob Bell

I have to say at about £120 it looks very tempting.
Steve Ratledge

Have got a HID kit , not this particular one, to go on my rebuild. I cannot see a problem with this kit and the price is very attractive. As Kris has pointed out the HID's run cooler so shouldn't be a problem.This new generation of kits make the fitting very easy with the correct spec bulb (H1 for the F) so gets my recommendation.
mike

Some F's use H7s - I haven't figured out why this is, bit some do- best check your own car before ordering - you may need to order a mixture according to what is fitted to the main/dip beams...
Rob Bell

Good point Rob - the £120 is only for a pair. So I would properbly go for the dipped beam and stick with normal for the addition high beam
Steve Ratledge

I wonder if this is a good target for a group buy?
Steve Ratledge

More of the same but cheaper http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8031409735&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D8031409735%26fvi%3D1
Steve Ratledge

My problem is that I don't know enough about the technology - where the pitfalls are, how you know what you are getting etc.

Some of these kits appear cheap - is this too good to be true?
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 18/01/2006 and 21/01/2006

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.