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MG MGB Technical - Lights

I am redoing a bunch of wiring this winter on my 74 ½ B. I am looking for a set of lights which would mount under the bumper. Low profile. Can any one direct me to a site where I can take a look at them?

Thanks

Bruce
Bruce

Have a hunt round for Cibie. They are (I think a French company but with a reputaion for excellence in respect of vehicle lighting. Their main site seems to be mainly written in Japanese and is very poor but if you look around you will find an English version somewhere.
Most of the Cibie range of auxillary lighting but they do a few smaller models and I seem to remember that one style was actually advertised slung under the front bumper of a c/b MGB
Marc

Bruce - I don't know if this site has what you are looking for but check it out http://lighting.mbz.org/about/
Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Here are three sites with lots of detailed information about Cibie lighting:-

http://www.alfacybersite.com/ACSCibCtA.html
http://www.cars.u-net.com/cibie.htm
This one has detailed information and also specifications as to beam patterns which allow you to inderstand what you are really buying. It is a very useful site:-
http://www.seriousauto.com/lighting/cibie/cibie_beam_patterns.htm
My own V8 is fitted with 80/90 headlamp bulbs which really do provide very adequate lighting. I have a LandRover which has a couple of Oscar SC virage spots. With 90w bulbs they are really quite fantastic. medium 200yard range and enormously broad beam which lights up windy lanes and quite roads completely and are terrific for cornering in difficult conditions at night. Have a look at the beam pattern site. They are far too large for an MGB but if I could find simliar cornering lights which would fit under the bumper of the B then I would get them - but for long range, the 80/90 headlights are very good.
Marc

Marc,

Did you add any relays to the headlight circut on your car when you put in the 80/90 headlights? I have thought about similar lights on my 72B, but I'm not sure that the wiring can take the load.

If anyone has any information on this type of conversion, and any wiring circut requirements, I would appreciate specifications/diagrams or suggestions.

Thanks.
Greg

Greg
These high powered bulbs were run for years with no realys and no problems except for a 1 second delay in warming up to full brightness. The car was rewired earlier this year by Paul Hunt. He fitted realys on everything. The whole system is now much better and the headlights are pretty well instantaneous.
Since thar was V8'd I have fitted a powerful battery - about 70 amp and powerful alternator - about 78 amp. However the high wattage bulbs ran well on the original equipment.
Marc

Greg wrote:

"If anyone has any information on this type of conversion, and any wiring circut requirements, I would appreciate specifications/diagrams or suggestions."

Greg,

I wrote an article on this, complete with wiring diagrams, for the Triumph 6Pack club recently, and I'll be posting it on my website soon. It'll be at:

http://www.britishv8.org/techhome.htm

Check on it in a few days if you're interested. It was written for Triumphs, but I'll be re-writing it to make it generic to all British cars. If you need it sooner than that, I can email the 6Pack article to you.
Dan Masters

This is a North American source for Hella lamps:
http://catalog.com/susq/hella/fog.htm

http://catalog.com/susq/hella/misc.htm#rearfog
...and wiring instructions:
http://catalog.com/susq/other/auxlamps.htm

Regards,
Jerry
Jerry Causey

Thanks guys for all of the information.

Marc, I'm glad to hear that you have sucessfully tried this.

Dan, I will check your website next week to get the information you described on the diagrams and how-to for this project.

Jerry, thanks for the link to the vendor. I got some very useful information there. I have been looking at the Hella lights, having previously used a set of them on a 240 Volvo I had. FYI, J. C. Whitney has the 7" round Hella Vision Plus lamps (US-DOT approved) for $39.99 each vs. the European style on the link you provided. Based on the bulb table from your site, the H4 bulbs (European) and the HB2 bulbs (DOT) appear to be the same. There was also some useful information on wire sizes for lighting amp draw requirements.

Would anyone have any information on the difference between Hella's US-DOT approved lamps and the European style? Is it lens design/light disbursement characterisics perhaps?

I'm looking forward to installing a set of headlights that will be useful for those night rallys our local MG club frequently has.

Thanks again for the help.
Greg

Bruce, just go to Canadian Tire and checkout their big, thick 2002 afermarket catalogue. They have all sorts of different types and sizes available. I was just in there today having a look and they have a cool set of HID add on fog lights.
I have had a set of Hella rectangular fogs on under the bumper for years but I would like something a little smaller and alot brighter.
I also converted the headlights to Cibie with 100/60w bulbs and later added the relays. They do come on faster with the relays but I used it for 3 or 4 years without and had no problems. If you stick with the stock 55/60w bulbs you will be ok without the relays.
Dave Pearn

I have a set of E-code Hellas on my '66 roadster, which I got from Susquehanna motorsports (hotlink in Jerry's post). They are far brighter than sealed beams and may negate your need for auxillary lamps. They use a replaceable H4 bulb and crystal lenses. I am running stock wattage bulbs, and have not changed any wiring or added relays. The E-code pattern uses a much sharper cutoff than DOT lenses, so it takes a little getting used to. Strictly speaking they aren't legal for road use in the U.S. but I don't think they are going to attract any attention in this era of H.I.D. lamps. In fact, the pattern is very similar to our VW Passat, and my brother-in-law's Porsche 968, so it's not even an unusual pattern anymore.
E-code lamps are expensive, but I'd start with upgrading my main lamps before I started into the bother of adding lights. I found I didn't need driving lamps with my Hellas. FWIW, I've heard that the Vision Plus Hellas aren't as good as the E-code, but I can't tell you why.
Chris
Chris

This thread was discussed between 29/11/2002 and 02/12/2002

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