Be aware that the front bumper has to be removed to change the headlights and that you can fit Halos to your current lights but it is a bit involved, see the link.
MGF & MG TF Owners Forum - Daytime running lights (COB LED Halo's) for the TF - (the-t-bar.com)

 

Thank you Deepfat I appreciate the guidance. I'm not actually that fussed about the Halos - I just want decent headlights so that, on the rare occasions I do use it at night, I can actually see where I'm going!

 

I fitted the 80mm Halo's from eBay (the ones that flash amber with the indicators), the cost was circa £50 which was for the Halos, controller, butyl sealing strip, stainless steel wire and a lens polishing kit. The first headlamp IIRC took about an hour to do but the second only about half the time, practice makes perfect. The time doesn't include removing and refitting the bumper, mine was already off due to the fact that I have almost rebuilt my TF with galvanised subframes, engine upgrade, big discs etc Hopefully the TF will be back on the road by July.
When I fitted the Halo's last October I researched the best bulb upgrade but never bought them. for the dipped beam Osram night breakers (H7) are the best upgrade, Osram don't make a bulb that fits straight into the main beam fitting (bulb HB3). However only this week I read on one of the MG forums that HB3a's fit, the difference being that the wiring connector is angled on a HB3a. Due to me regularly looking on four different MG forums I do not remember which one it was had a photo of them fitted, a search hasn't found it either but I did find this on "The T Bar"

"Osram Nightbreakers are probably the best improvement before hids, and are legal unlike the hids.(and before the debate starts, yes I also know people who have fitted hids and passed the MOT with them.)
The type of bulb is HB3a and H7 if I recall correctly for the TF. The HB3a is not available in the Nightbreaker but you can get HB3 bulbs. they will fit. the only difference is a 90degree tilt to the electrical plug. "

 

I think this is the picture you mean from my original thread which for some reason I can't copy a link to, Nightbreakers are a straight swop and a good upgrade from "normal bulbs".

 

Yes, that's the one

 

MGB281 I fancy fitting HALOs and I presume you put the lights in the oven? this is the bit that worries me I'm bad enough with a pizza, how did that bit go?
I keep looking for a spare set of lights to do first so a mistake wont matter so much.

 

I had the same fear as well, and bought a pair off eBay, as you may have read elsewhere on the forum I bought a 2004 Sunstorm where the previous owner let the sump go dry. It also had minor accident damage front and rear so one of the headlights brackets were already broken. Any way back to the job of converting them, a set of those plastic car trim removal levers are a godsend, strip the headlights of all bulbs etc and place in an oven at 130C for seven minutes, don't think crispy pizza but rather rare steak, then remove and start prising the lens off. You will find that very little progress is made, so back in the oven for another seven minutes and this time the sealant that you loosened on the first attempt will give way and you will quickly have the lens off. The tricky bit is attaching the Halo's, I had read about fixing them with clear high temperature silicone but even the very thin wires kept made it incredibly difficult to keep in place. My next method was to use stainless steel wire (0.6mm MIG wire) and used two loops one at 10 and the other at two o'clock with the silicone dabbed all the way around the back of the Halo (it prevents earthing of the lights on the chrome ring). feed the wire out through the bottom of the reflector. Insert a strip of butyl sealant strip all the way around the headlamp groove and place in the oven again, remove and press the lens back in.
when wired in you will have bright DRL's and amber indicators in the daytime, and dim DRL's and indicators when the headlights are on. I think they are a great safety feature, in particular the indicators, no one will miss seeing them.
I hope to get over to the car today and if I remember will take a couple of photos.

 

I forgot to take photos of my headlights, you will see the two loops of stainless steel wire that I used at about two and ten o’clock. I used just high temperature silicone mastic all the way around to insulate the lights from the chrome ring. If you have endless patience you can get away without the wire loops.

 

Thanks I have quite a selection of trim removal tools so I'm halfway there!, do you have a link for the supplier? when I look on the bay the Chinglish can leave a lot to be desired you've got exactly what I want white or amber when required and they work.

 

The buyer that I bought from isn't listing anything at the moment, the price has gone up though since I bought mine.
This is the controller though.

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Here we go again the wiring instructions say

1. Connect the positive and negative poles of the daytime running lights on the left and right first, and the negative pole first.

2. Connect the red and black wires at the fused input end of the controller to the positive and negative poles of the battery, and the red and black wires at the output end to the positive and negative poles of the daytime running lamp.

3. Connect the yellow wire on the controller to the positive pole of the headlamp (or reading lamp). When the headlamp (or reading lamp) is turned on, the brightness of the daytime running lamp will be halved (dimmed) to realize the dimming function (yellow line). You can choose not to connect, that is, abandon this function without affecting other uses).

1. I presume this means wire the DRL's to the controller first, I've no idea why it makes a difference which way round you build the circuit.

2. Self explanatory, no problem

3. WTF is a reading lamp is it the indicator? and if so how does the controller know to switch the light from white to amber, is it the pulse of the indicator current or am I missing something?

 

You are missing something, however the translation isn’t much better than abysmal.
Each halo ring has it’s own controller with plus, minus and indicator connection wires. If you wired them in like that to an ignition controller source they would work but be dazzling at night.
The controller that I linked to is quite ingenious in that it uses the higher voltage when the engine is running to automatically turn them on and off when the engine stops. This is the power source for the DRL’s. A third wire is connected to either the sidelight circuit or the dipped headlight, this automatically dims the DRL’s when the main lights come on. If you connect the two terminals to the battery, then connect the yellow to the dipped beam. That bit is simple because its all together on the nearside wing. then connect the red and black output wires to the red and black wires on the Halo lights.

 

I have just added some photos of the lights, for some reason in the photo it looks like a whole yellow light when the indicators flash but in reality you see two yellow halo’s. Any oncoming traffic knows which way you are going

 

I've now got a spare set of heads to play with so now need to order the Halo's so one last question, I've seen the 80mm measurement mentioned for the Halo lights. The ones I'm looking at say 80mm external dia, 70mm internal dia are these what I require or is it the 90mm which give an 80mm internal dia. I know I could strip the lights but I wont be starting this for a few weeks and would like everything in place beforehand.

 

80mm outer 70mm inner is correct

 

Thanks for that info

 

Not trying to be a killjoy, but will these pass the MOT since the new 'original only' rules came in.

That's not actually what they are called of course, just my interpretation of it...

 

I wondered about that same issue. D4KGP.

 

Could you gentlemen please enlighten me as to what rules exactly I might break, I had a quick look but not having 8 hours spare couldn't find anything that I thought applicable. I was thinking of wiring it in with a master fuse anyway which when pulled would cut all the halo's and indicator mods to avoid complications. The MOT testers can only test as presented if something doesn't work and is not an MOT requirement to work then it should be ignored.
I previously thought of fitting DRL's into the recesses where the bumper bolts are, technically they infringe Construction and Use Regs being slightly too low, I ran it past my local tester who said a 2002 car does not need DRL's so they would not be tested and therefor he didn't care about placement.
There was a long thread on the MGOC where an owner presented their TF with a bung in one exhaust (TT) pipe and the MOT man refused to test it without it being removed, in consequence the car failed on O2. The tester was wrong and should have tested "as presented" and it would have passed, as it did subsequently.

 

Could you gentlemen please enlighten me as to what rules exactly I might break, I had a quick look but not having 8 hours spare couldn't find anything that I thought applicable. I was thinking of wiring it in with a master fuse anyway which when pulled would cut all the halo's and indicator mods to avoid complications. The MOT testers can only test as presented if something doesn't work and is not an MOT requirement to work then it should be ignored.
I previously thought of fitting DRL's into the recesses where the bumper bolts are, technically they infringe Construction and Use Regs being slightly too low, I ran it past my local tester who said a 2002 car does not need DRL's so they would not be tested and therefor he didn't care about placement.
There was a long thread on the MGOC where an owner presented their TF with a bung in one exhaust (TT) pipe and the MOT man refused to test it without it being removed, in consequence the car failed on O2. The tester was wrong and should have tested "as presented" and it would have passed, as it did subsequently.

I'm not 100% sure but I was under the impression that all lights fitted to a vehicle had to be in working order.

 

Not anything to do with headlights, but my MOT tester was very impressed by my door downlighters and said I guess these aren't original, I think they missed a trick by not adding some.

 

According to Roger Parkers book all cars manufactured before DRL's were mandatory are exempt from having them MOT tested. He does go on to say that as a matter of common decency they should operate at 50% of rated power when the headlights come on so as not to dazzle. It's the same reason why cars manufactured before certain dates are not required to have, seatbelts, ABS, windscreen wipers etc and if they are fitted they would not be tested. Now a De Dion Bouton with ABS would be interesting to see

 

According to Roger Parkers book all cars manufactured before DRL's were mandatory are exempt from having them MOT tested. He does go on to say that as a matter of common decency they should operate at 50% of rated power when the headlights come on so as not to dazzle. It's the same reason why cars manufactured before certain dates are not required to have, seatbelts, ABS, windscreen wipers etc and if they are fitted they would not be tested.

I’ve read this through a few times, and I’m still not sure what point(s) you are making?

 

The point is that DRL's did not become mandatory until February 2011, all cars since then have to be fitted with them and for the MOT must work and also dim when the headlights come on. Cars manufactured before have them fitted voluntarily (either by the owner or manufacturer) and do not have to comply with dimming although probably have to work.
The point with the De Dion Bouton is that if legislation was retrospective then a De Dion Bouton would have to have ABS, imagine the fun of fitting ABS to rod operated brakes. The same applies to seat belts pre 1965 cars do not have to have them but owners have had them fitted, not required or inspected by the MOT

 

The only thing I can recall that was retrospective was windscreen washers, I remember having to buy one for my mini, in those days they were finger pumps on the dash, you furiously pumped and got a dribble out of the jets. I upgraded to electric using an old SU fuel pump I had knocking about, brilliant but emptied the bottle in about 20sec flat.