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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 TD TF 1500 - TF1414 LED Conversion

Below freezing in the barn so I figured working on TF1414 to help ease the suffering of the "shack nasties". Spring is 22 days away...... Converted the rear taillights and license plate light to led bulbs. Works great, nice and bright, and flasher works as it's supposed to. I didn't do the front parking lights so the flasher relay has enough draw to work without any flasher relay conversion. With the parking lights on and applying the brake pedal, barley any movement from the ammeter. Also ordered P36 for my fog lights but one light bulb was defective. I'll reach out to them to get a replacement.


Go to http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions... for more information.

YouTube clip https://youtu.be/WBiN_btEJ44


Frank
TF1414



Frank Cronin

2


Frank Cronin

If you do the front Litezupp make a great flasher that works well.

Never thought of doing the license plate light.

Thanks,

Peter
P G Gilvarry

Did my tail lights recently as well!


Rich King TD 8732

Is this just as simple as changing the bulbs or are there mods to the bulb holders required as well? Interested in the least expensive and reversible option. I don't have indicators and have no plans to fit them, nor do I want to divert this thread into a debate about the merit/necessity of indicators. The question is can the tail and brake light bulbs simply be swapped over to LED's? I have + earth. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter,

No mods. Choose which LED that has the same base as the original. The LED's are bi polarity unless noted in the description. My car is positive ground too. Take the old one out and put the new one in. Plug and play. Easy.

Frank

TF1414
Frank Cronin

Peter
You'd know Anthony Pearson through MGCC-SA
He'll have what you need-

There's a description of bulb bases etc on his website-----------or just ask him ,he'll know which bulbs to supply

http://www.classicandvintagebulbs.com/
William Revit

Thanks Willy. I'm inclined now to go LED all the way around after reading his blurb. I'll give him a call tomorrow. While I'm laid up these are the type of things I can get sorted. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Classic Car LEDs in the UK has an extensive range for all British cars and reasonable prices.

I bought 2 for my driving lights for day time running from Adelaide before I found the UK supplier. Did all 4 corners for less than the 2 for driving lights.

I have not done the headlights as focus can be an issue from most suppliers. Have dash illumination lights to fit along with high beam indicator.

I tried a couple of flashers until until I found the Litezupp unit resolved the issue of the light on the dash not being active.

I have a set of trailer lights for driving to night school British car class. Added cheap Chinese LEDs to them.

Highly recommend Classic Car LEDs products. Remember for brake/tail to buy red LEDs. For front you can get white side/amber turn for improved visibility. Rear are offset pins, front are parallel pins for TF anyway.

Here’s seeing ya.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

Brittrix makes LED light boards for over 350 classic British vehicles right here in the US although they ship worldwide.

Most models are polarity neutral, they will work well in either a positive or negative ground vehicle. Several times brighter than either an incandescent or LED bulb at 1/10 the current draw.

www.brittrix.com
Lew Palmer

Really makes a difference, so I installed the Abingdon Spares rear positive earth LEDS in the rear of my 52 TD, but the front turn/parking lights bulb did not fit my car. The nibs are not staggered on the front LEDs. My turn signals work well, so see no need to install a different flasher.
R.A. Olson

Just spoke with Anthony and the LED's for my TD are $25 AU each for the rear and $85 AU each for the headlights. I didn't inquire about the front parking lights. The change over is effected simply by replacing the bulbs. I'm sending him a pic of the front headlight lenses just to ensure that he provides the correct bulbs. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

From Classic LEDs you can get 2 for that price.

Be very cautious about headlight bulbs, they need to be focused to avoid lighting up the whole world. I still run BPF36 head light bulbs, they work fine.

Don’t forger red inside red lenses, otherwise you will see a bright white light surrounded by dull red.

It might be prudent to do a little more research on suppliers, I cannot day I was ecstatic with my running light LEDs that were expensive.

If you look at the front side/turn light bulb it can be inserted 2 ways, easy to tell, will be very bright on side function an barely noticeable when flashing if you screw it up.

Also, length of the lamp is important if you want to get the lense back in there. Some lights are larger than the small MG bullet lamps, especially prudent on TF rear lamps.

Happy researching.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

Problems from buying overseas include, shipping, tracking, insurance and now GST. Buy the time you add all this up and the exchange rate charges, is there really any saving? I'll do the research though, as is my want. Cheers
Peter D 5801
P Hehir

Here we don’t have to worry about a lot of that stuff, only time I paid duty was on a $1,000 order of wire wheels from the UK. The duty was $25, handling fee of $12, payable by check.

Wheels came in 3 days, the duty bill arrived 2 weeks later.

When the Pound Sterling is down I shop in the UK, B&G and Burlen Fuel Systems have low shipping costs and quick service, order before 10AM and it comes quickly, usually 3-5 days.

The option for white amber for the front side/turn is one I like, the other option is short length. 1157 equivalent red LEDs are all over EBay, but are considerably longer and no use except in my trailer lights that attach magnetically to my fuel tank.

Happy researching.
P G Gilvarry

Has anybody tried converting the dashboard lamps to LED, if so how did they react to the rheostat? I think that they do not dim.

John
J Scragg

May not work well, a lot will work from 3V to 24V.

I have bought them but not fitted them.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

Frank, where did you find LED bulbs for the Lucas driving lights? I'm trying to convert all my lights also to LED but have not found a source for the fog lamps.

thanks,
Bill TD24570
Bill Brown

Could be a BPF36S if is the round base with a notch.

If so try Classic Car LEDs in UK. Sometimes a Day Running Light is used which is not focused, just a LOT of light.

Peter
P G Gilvarry

Bill

Click this link here and scroll down to about 2/3 of the way down to the section for fog lights.

http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/led-headlamp-bulbs-shop.php

What you're looking for are the from the pull down menu is 6-12v 40w P36s CB2C

Hope this helps

Frank

TF1414

Frank Cronin

A few more LED options: (concours restorers please ignore!)

John, the amber lamp on the left is a bidirectional LED. Bought on EBay as a set of clear, red, blue, green, amber. I have used the RBG to replace the dash lights on TF 2071. The originals were missing and replacements seemed very expensive. B fuel light works well, R charge light also works as original. G tends to flicker dimly but still functions as an indicator. The dash had been mutilated with enlarged holes so I drilled out stainless washers as a trim.

The only front side light white/amber + earth LEDs that I could find were too long so I bent the mounting bracket to move them further back and can now get the lens back in.

The circular amber LED fits around the rear lamp where the chrome ring used to be. I had to cut away part of the rubber to get a flat surface and stuck them on with clear silicon. They are also wired as hazard lights.

If I can figure out how to attach a video I can show them in operation!

I am considering mounting the amber strips as a repeater just below the windscreen pillars.

I won’t look at headlights till someone comes up with a prefocused bulb but I probably won’t be doing a lot of night driving anyway!

Chris



C I Twidle

John,
LED bulbs with simple serial resistors only should dim with the rheostat, but probably with a very steep curve. I use LED panels in several cars for interior lighting, and they all dim fine with the dimmer that fades them out when doors close.
On the other hand - I have LEDS in my instruments, and the last thing I need is to dim them...
Rgds Mike
Mike Fritsch

For the front side lights I recommend dual color switchback type (white / amber) LED bulbs that turn off the white when the indicator is on. They come as 3157 type (offset pins) which requires to change the original socket. I use them as DRL (always on) and use a relay and voltage regulator in addition to dim the white when the headlights are on.
This way it‘s three purposes (DRL -bright white, pilot -dim white, flasher -amber)out of a single bulb.
Rgds Mike
Mike Fritsch

Update:

I converted the all the bulbs to the instrument cluster to LED less the center red ignition warning light.

Classic Dynamo also had green and blue LED E10 bulbs and those two were also converted to the fuel warning light and direction indicators. Red wasn't available for the high beam indicator so I took one of the E10 LED white bulbs, lightly sanded the bulb lens with fine sandpaper and painted it red enamel paint. Tested it before installing and got a nice red light!

Some pics of the final result with all warning lights on, main beam on to the headlights, and instrument clusters. Notice the low draw on the ammeter.

The green flasher indicator is bright compared to a standard bulb which will come in handy knowing if your flashers are still on or off especially on sunny days. I have a very severe hearing loss so hearing the tick of the flasher relay under the bonnet is never going to happen. So a nice bright light for for a visual for safety for me and for others.

The link to my original post did not work and here it is again:

http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.com/dash-board-panel-lamp-bulbs-shop.php

I will keep my map lights original since they can be seen for judging, etc.

Frank

TF1414









Frank Cronin

This thread was discussed between 09/02/2020 and 18/03/2020

MG TD TF 1500 index

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