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MG MGA - Mew Moss Grille ARH52 - Your thoughts ASAP?

All,

Before I stick this in the post back to Australia today to be fitted to my car.

Does anyone have any comments on the new £199 ARH52 Grill's from Moss (UK) but presumably available from Moss US also.

I've already purchased their £129 ARH901 Grille which was manufactured by Tasker in the USA. These were quite frankly rubbish as many of you will testify, but all I could get at the time.

http://www.taskermetalproducts.com/images/mga_mgb_jaguar_Album/index1.htm

The new grille comes complete with metric bolts and made in China sticker on the plastic bag, but seems of much higher quality.

***********

Thus has anyone fitted one of these?
If so please let me know your thoughts.

Cheers
Mark.

Off to GT-33 in one day !!!


Mark Hester

Mark,
I used the Tasker product and spent quite a while getting the contour of the edges to fit against the front shroud. I used a small off hand grinder (be careful of the direction of the disk rotation to stop it pulling the chrome off)and painted the bare edges in silver which is then lost against the piping. I suspect that any replacement will need careful fetling.
regards
Colin
C Manley

Mark

No experience with the new Grille.

Will see you at GT 33 - Flying in to Allentown on Sunday to pick up the 1600 which I drove up from Florida two weeks ago. Hope to get there by noon Monday.

Rick
Rick Brown

Hi Mark, I fitted the very new version 2 grill last year and it was very good, it was chrome on brass with the correct stainless steel bars and fitted very well, however the chrome was poor with lines showing poor preparation etc




regards gordon

g c pugh

Mark,
Had one fitted earlier this year by Bob West following an argument with a pheasant last summer.
Fit seems good but on the first one fitted the chrome started to come off within a couple of weeks where the plinth touches the main grille surround. Bob says the quality of the chrome is a weakness and he has had others re-chromed. Watch the "slats". They are better than the tasker ones (i.e. the edges are much nearer to the smooth rolled profile of OE ones ) but they are also very much more closed up than OE and I found that they needed opening up with a pair of pliers to maintain decent air flow , again simply by comparison with my (damaged) OE slats.
David
D C GRAHAME

An original refurbished is much better. The chrome on the new grill is poor. On one I purchased it was coming off in the box. The backside edge (that fits against the shroud) was hand ground and very wavy--so much so that the piping would not cover the faults. The finish was shiney but showed the grind/sanding marks below the layer of chrome. The slats are too "fat" and not quite the correct shape. In summary--better than the Tasker, but still not anywhere near as good as the orginal. If you have access to an original that is not completely mangled, you can reshape it, fill the imperfections with lead, and have it triple chrome plated. If you do the refurbish and repair yourself, your net cost will be no more than the replacement ($350) for the triple chrome. Just my opinion.
James Johanski

Moss almost had me believing their fancy hype after reading how this time, they were going to get it right - taking an original to duplicate, chrome over brass, offering high quality and all those beautiful pictures and special instructions...etc etc. I commend their effort on this - it sounds like improvement but you have to finish the job - I have never examined a part made in china and said to myself "now thats quality". And don't always assume it is cost-saving specifications either. Why waste your time on any product from china - ebay is full of decent original grilles that can be saved and re-chromed - you won't spend that much more and have an original and quality piece in the end. Thats what I did - final cost $425 for grille + re-chrome. Sure it takes a little patience and hassle, but you get the real McCoy at the end!
glenn johnson

I just installed one. I also had a hand in installing another one with a friend a little earlier. They seem to fit fairly well with one exception (which may be unique to us). There was excess curvature in the vertical sides of the grille so it left gaps half way up the sides and would not hold the piping in place.

I'm sure my car was molested and repaired a few times in past life, possibly the same for the other car. The last time I installed a new grill was in the mid 80's, in which case I made the body nose fit the grille (during restoration work). The modern grill is not the same shape as the prior one, hopefully the new one being more correct.

Solution was to pull the sheet metal forward at the sides of the grill opening in the body. This is not a job for the faint of heart, especially if it is already painted. I used a saber saw to cut a curve on the edge of a short 2x4 board to a smaller radius than the body opening. I padded this with a few layers of Duck tape and placed it behind the body opening. I then used a long 2x4 for a pry bar, placing it laterally through the opening, bracing it against the body mount bracket at the side, and pulling forward to have the curved block pull the sheet metal out, finishing with a tighter radius to match the new grill. It requires a LOT of pulling and over pull, because the sheet metal will spring back quite a bit when released.

I like the look with more curve at the sides of the grill. I think it is (probably) very much like original issue.
Barney Gaylord

Here is a funny story though it came at my expense: A seller out there on ebay named Jorge aka angel-heart-pancho sells a homemade grille and I purchased one a few years ago. When opening up the package and seeing it for the first time, I noticed it looked nice, but also a little small. I take it to the car nose and lay it on the face - quite small + pretty goofy looking - the indented face to grille ratio made it look real different. With piping, it was still not right. Sure enough, I compare the dimensions to the repro grille that I had just taken off my car which came from the prev owner - it was much smaller. I am not judging his product or the fact that my repro grille could have been off or that bodywork at the nose in prev years could have been a cause, but I get on the phone with Jorge to explain the situation and once I mentioned the words return and refund, angel-heart-pancho transformed into satanic-crap-in-the_pants. The guy went into a serious TOURETTE SYNDROME episode, cursing me and my car out, not allowing me to explain and ultimately causing me to just have to hang up the phone. angel-heart-pancho was all angelic while taking the $ and making the deal, but went absolutely ballistic when his holy product was questioned. I just wrapped it up and sent it back. It took a little badgering for him to give me a refund also. Watch out folks! I look back now and laugh, though at the time, it was anything but funny.
glenn johnson

Yes, the archives are littered with many a not-so-nice story about Mr angel-heart-pancho, aka Jaguar Jorge. Somehow he manages to stay in business though.
Andy Bounsall

Glenn, I had exactly the same experience with Jorge only over body parts. In my estimation, he is nothing but a fraud and a thief, and should be avoided or hung!
James Johanski

I have the same bad experiences and posted some pictures of Jorges crap grille on this forum.
Neil McGurk

I fit a new Moss grill to my MGA in March, the fit was very good in my opinion, only a slight gap on one side. My car had been butchered in this area in its earlier life so could be a factor. I know someone who bought the grill and had it re-chromed right away...
David Terhune

This thread was discussed between 11/07/2008 and 19/07/2008

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