Spare bits

[mgtfnut]

Two things are bugging me.
Front door seals seem totally unavailable - not fatal as the usual bodges sort of work.

Headlights. I now have three sets. The originals which look completely aged and one has a broken plastic adjuster thanks to a helpful MoT guy

A "new" set from A E Wilcox which were Chinese and have misted up with some sort of vapour deposit on the inside of the polycarbonate - useless.

Third used set from Martin in Somerset - now yellowing badly. I've spent ages trying the usual sanding, compounding etc. One has come up fairly well, the other seems cloudy on the inside of the polycarbonate More importantly, they both seem to have a crystallised appearance throughout the plastic and diffuse the light - especially when viewed in the dark.

Rimmers have "new" units at £400+ , are they Chinese or OEM French made units? At this sort of price versus the cars current worth, what to do?

I might add that the car has spent 21 years of it's life outside, facing the morning sun, so perhaps not surprising that the poloycarbonate has degraded.

Has anyone made/ got a solution?

[MrNatural]

Frustrating that decent parts are not being manufactured in this country or Europe

[Geoff.F]

The Chinese are in fact Taiwanese.
I ordered from Rimmers and waited several months so bought a good second hand pair for the MOT. Rimmers delivered as I was finishing fitting them. The used ones are in the attic.
The Rimmers are considered Original rather than aftermarket as they are Vosa UK approved viz. Legal to use.. The price was the same as MGR.
Others have been available from Suppliers at 2/3 rds the price, perhaps “Do Not Touch”
Geoff.F
Whoops. Sorry, I assumed that 21 years would be a F rather than a TF. I have not heard or this problem on UK TFs but it maybe the same story.

[Rob Bell]

Hi Jerry,

The headlamp problem is very common on all cars with polycarbonate covers; they were glass on the MGF, but as you know, MGF headlamps have their own failure mode...

One solution might be to remove the existing polycarbonate and fabricate a replacement using the original as a pattern and bond that to the headlamp. Usually the bonding material can be persuaded to let go with some heat - there's bound to be a few threads where folks have taken these units apart to either paint them or fit LED DRLs of some description.

If the headlamp cover needs to be moulded, then I have a contact who can do this, but the former tool manufacture is the expensive bit...

[mgtfnut]

Hi Jerry,

The headlamp problem is very common on all cars with polycarbonate covers; they were glass on the MGF, but as you know, MGF headlamps have their own failure mode...

One solution might be to remove the existing polycarbonate and fabricate a replacement using the original as a pattern and bond that to the headlamp. Usually the bonding material can be persuaded to let go with some heat - there's bound to be a few threads where folks have taken these units apart to either paint them or fit LED DRLs of some description.

If the headlamp cover needs to be moulded, then I have a contact who can do this, but the former tool manufacture is the expensive bit...

Thanks Rob - missed your post!
Yes, it seems simple enough to remove the covers, but is there a financial case for the tool making and moulding etc?
From talking to some boating friends (windows), polycarbonate possibly has a finite life of 20 years before a crystalline appearance shows. My TF is 02, and has to park outside facing the noon day sunlight - not ideal. At about £400.00 each from Rimmers, this could be 1/2 to 1/3 the value of my car.
If they fail an MoT in the future, possibly another car to be scrapped. Could X-Part be persuaded - have you any contacts?

[Deepfat]

Is the original manufacturer of the TF heads still in business? if so do they still have the original tooling or drawings to make the tooling for the covers?, are they interested in a short run or offloading the tooling/drawings?. These have been the questions in my head for quite a while, sadly my French struggles to get anywhere even near schoolboy. Surely we have some French member/speaker on here who could attempt to get the ball rolling by asking these questions, for my part I don't mind putting a few quid towards postage.
I await the avalanche of silence

[mgtfnut]

Looking at the Rimmers pictures of TF headlight units, I can see yellow stickers which suggests to me new manufacture. I asked at the Rimmer's stand the other week at Silverstone and they kindly checked on their laptop to see who supplied them - it seems Xpart!

I was going to contact them and hopefully get some information - but life gets in the way!!

There is nothing wrong with the units bar the UV degradation of the covers - just needs an enterprising source of the polycarbonate covers to bring them back to life and road legal. As mentioned above, polishing and re-coating works for less aged units, but 20 year old lights are beginning to be a problem.

[Rob Bell]

Thanks Rob - missed your post!
Yes, it seems simple enough to remove the covers, but is there a financial case for the tool making and moulding etc?
From talking to some boating friends (windows), polycarbonate possibly has a finite life of 20 years before a crystalline appearance shows. My TF is 02, and has to park outside facing the noon day sunlight - not ideal.

My turn to apologise - missed your response post!

Having gone through the process of manufacturing the moulds to make polycarbonate MGF headlamp covers (weight saving!) then the set up is the principal cost. Once the vacuum moulds have been made though, popping out muliples is a doddle - but I think that this would be a labour of love unless you're considering setting up a small business!