MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

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 MG Y Type - External Mirrors

Hi Guys,
I am seeking a clever way to mount an external rear vision mirror to the left hand side (Passenger Side) of a RHD YT. I have a rigid arm T Type mirror mount with a modified base fixed to the windscreen on the drivers side with a convex Lucas 160 type mirror head which is excellent but unfortunately this arrangement will not work on the left because the mirror is mostly obscured by the windscreen frame and the side curtain. The alternative is to use the straight rod and adjustable knuckle configuration because you can have the mirror well back in full view however, with the side curtains on you have to move the mirror out of the way to open and close the door. This is a real pain and will cause rapid wear of the knuckle and ball joints. A more serviceable solution could be an arm with a pivot point or hinge that is designed to move more freely but I have not seen one of these. Another possible solution is to position the mirror further forward and inwards so that it can be seen through the bottom left hand corner of the windscreen, might look a little odd but could work rather well?

For some years now I have been using a suction cup convex mirror mounted internally in the top left hand corner of the windscreen which actually works quite well but they frequently fall off and then take quite a bit of messing about to adjust. Maybe a more permanently mounted internal mirror might be my best option?

Looking forward to reading some clever suggestions and no I am not going to use a selfie stick or one of those useless wing mirrors!
Cheers
Richo
R A Prior

Richo, I decided to fit L & R mirrors to my YA, the driver's side was easy so I did the other side the same then realised I couldn't see it! I adjusted it and now see through the lower part of the windscreen as you suggested. It works well even with the 'air-conditioner' open. Don

Donald J Walker

Hi Don, thanks for your reply and confirmation moving the mirror forward is definitely an option and actually if you look across the car the position of the mirror on the RH side is very similar but not as close to the body obviously. My problem is to get the mirror forward enough I will need a bent arm from the knuckle if I mount it on the windscreen upright. I will need to keep an eye out for a spare arm with a ball end that I can bend to shape and then have it chromed. In the meantime I have ordered a convex internal mirror That I will permanently mount on the top LH corner of the windscreen.
Thanks again - and I like your comment about those awesome Y sedan aircons!!!!
Cheers Richo
R A Prior

Hi Richo

Like you I too have the Lucas 160 mirror fitted to the YT and I swap the l/h mirror onto the TC. I have used a fitting from Moss
an Easy-Fit Side Mirror Bracket. Of course as with many products from these suppliers they are not cheap ( EASY-FIT BRACKET KIT
Part Number: 407-488a @ £37,55 GBP) and the chroming is poor. However, they are 'fit for purpose' and you can close the door with the sidescreens on and yet still see rear view traffic! I also had a spare 160 mirror which I have fitted onto the Desmo bracket used for the interior mirror. Surprisingly it is not that obtrusive and is far more effective than the existing.

I will take some pics later today and post then on site.

Hope that is of some help.

Cheers from lovely UK - well weatherwise at present (but obviously night time at 00.40 hrs!)
JERRY BIRKBECK

I concur with Jerry - I run a Moss Easy-Fit on the LHS of the Tourer - invaluable when towing a teardrop trailer.

You should check your photos from Easter 2016 - you saw the car then !.

Cheers

Tony
A L SLATTERY

Thanks Tony

Here is a pic Rico.

Cheers
Jerry

JERRY BIRKBECK

Thanks for your comments guys and your picture Jerry. I have been ignoring the easy fit style of arm because I wanted to match the RH side of the car which has a Lucas 160 style mirror on a T Type fixed arm style bracket with a modified base to suit the YT windscreen mount. But this arm takes the mirror too far forward on the LH side so that it is obscured by the windscreen and Sidescreen frames. Also it makes the mirror head rather low, about screen wingnut height, which happens to be the widest part of the sidescreen hence it fouls when you open the door. The knuckle type arm also has similar issues. So today I took a very old Wibroc easy fit style circular mirror off our TD and put on the LH side of the YT and yes it does solve the problem. It is all about gaining some height so that the mirror head is level with the upper part of the sidescreen that is more raked backwards it then gives you a clearer view of the mirror and the clearance to open the door. The only downside is the mirror sits higher than the other side of the car but it looks like I will have to live with that now! Finally I noticed that NTG now also have an easy fit style of arm, a little more expensive but hopefully better quality!
Cheers
Richo
R A Prior

Hi Guys, I have reactivated this thread so earlier comments and the good suggestions are not lost. I tried the easy fit bracket but it looked odd with one mirror higher than the other from left to right plus it did not stop my dear Wife from knocking it so I reverted to my original plan of replacing the internal suction mirror with something permanent. So I purchased a very nice convex Desmo 248 replica mirror from Vintage Supplies (formerly Paul Beck) which looks the part and is now mounted in the top left-hand corner of the windscreen, away from side screens and bodies bumping it out of alignment and the vision out into my left hand blind spot is excellent. This particular mirror can be mounted in a number of ways but I chose to mount it hanging from the top of the windscreen frame. I had to grind a small amount of metal off the width of the base so it would fit under the lip of the frame and allow me to drill two small countersunk holes in the frame for a pair of tiny screws with domed nuts. I have attached pics of an internal and external view, probably in a second entry. Jerry's idea of using a Type 160 on the original central internal Desmo mount could also be very useful when the top is down!
Cheers
Richo YT3208


R A Prior

External view attached

R A Prior

Dont forget Richo that YZ Publications also had the correct mirror stems made for LHD and RHD YT internal mirrors. Your extra mirror can then look like the proper deal (and your central one too if you dont have the correct one too!!).

Paul
Paul Barrow

Gents

As usual, I did it the elaborate way. I started off with a LH arm of a T-Type, that would allow the use of a Lucas 160 type mirror and would not interfere with the opening of the passenger door with the side screen on. To make it fit to my YT, the following adaptations had to be done:
1. shorten the base/foot of the arm by about 1/2" on each side
2. drill and countersink a new mounting hole at each toe-end of the base
3. file mating surface of the base "concave" to fit the slightly convex side of the window frame bracket
4. drill and tap holes in LH window frame bracket (to match the countersunk holes in the base)
5. get the arm re-chromed
6. fit arm with chromed screws :o)

Octagonally
Anton


Anton Piller

Hi Guys,
To Paul, yes mate my central rear vision mirror is an original DESMO and I have to admit I didn't think of using a replica of the original on the left - excellent idea. I think the narrow rimless 248 mirror head would have probably attached to it just fine. It was possibly the fact that the 248 provided lots of adjustment and gave me the options of different methods of mounting that clouded my thinking. Never mind it is all good info for the future.

Now Anton you have blown me away man! I did exactly as you described above years ago to the Right hand side but when I modified a LHS mount earlier this year (2018) and did a mock mounting I could not see all the mirror with the sidescreen on. So today I went and sat in the passengers seat pretending to be in a LHD YT and I can only see half of the RHS mirror, exactly the same as left. So what else have you done to get a full view of the mirror? Maybe the position/angle of the arms on the mirror mounts you have used are different to mine, I think my mounts came from Kimble along time ago. I have attached a couple of pictures, one is the RHS with a Type 160 fitted and the other the LHS that I modified but didn't bother to have it re-chromed because for me it just was not going to work!


R A Prior

And here is the LHS mirror mount.

R A Prior


My LH side stem is the one made for T-types and either cam from NTG or Moss, many years back.
I'll take a picture later on (got my grand children with us for a couple of days :o)

Anton
Anton Piller

Richo

My car is right hand drive, but is used in european RH traffic. Yes, the angle of my mirror stm might be different.
I prefer the horizontal way of mounting but I have seen many T-types where the mirror is fittet vertical.
The stem, I use allows both ways of mounting without to interfere with th side screens.

I send two pics.
Anton

Anton Piller

Photo is a bit dark because car is wrapped up for winter.

Check out my winter job on the work bench :o)

Cheers
Anton

Anton Piller

This thread was discussed between 06/05/2018 and 31/12/2018

MG MG Y Type index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MG Y Type BBS now