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MG MGA - map reading light unit

I bought one of these new recently and I've found that it won't fit into the dashboard hole. As I've just painted the dashboard I'm not keen on opening up the hole and I was wondering if anyone has managed to get one without this problem. Thanks Mike
m.j. moore

It mounts on the front face of the dash, doesn't it? Only the wire goes through the dash, so the hole size shouldn't be a problem.
Peter.
P. Tilbury

Chrome rim, glass lense, and rubber gasket mount to front of dash. The bulb socket goes into the dash hole from the back. The bulb socket fingers have to ground on the edge of the hole in the panel, so you need to scrape the paint from the inside edge of the hole only.

The only thing going into the dash hole is the bulb socket. Does that not fit in the hole? I think the map light for the early MGB uses a larger bulb socket, so you might have the wrong part.
Barney Gaylord

Hi there, I found that the best way is to solder a black wire to the bulb holder ground side & anchor it to the black wire ground system that runs accross the back af the dashboard, thereby giving a positive connection rather than relying on the grounded dashboard. All black wiring is ground system, so it's best not to use another color.

Regards. rod
R.A. Gregg

Here is a picture of the back of a coupe dash with a current Moss Plastic bulbholder. The Moss bulbholder has the pigtail to ground it. The original bulbholder, shown in picture, grounded to the dash as Barney described. A pigtail could be added as Rod described.

R J Brown

I think Barney may be right in that I've been supplied with an MGB lamp unit. The original dash hole is 9/16" and the hole size I would need is 7/8". You can see from my picture that the lamp holder is very large compared with both original and Moss repro. in RJ's pic. Thanks for all your help. Mike

m.j. moore

This thread was discussed between 02/10/2008 and 03/10/2008

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