Change the headlights from English driving (right side) to portuguese

What have you got to loose, (other than the stainless clips)?
As David had said the f light units are easier to disassemble than the tf & once the two parts are separated you can clean until your heart’s content.
Nothing abrasive or a solvent, a mild soap solution on a cotton bud at the edge would be my first move.
I write this with no first hand experience other than having been witness to a guy ruining a similar unit; having chipped the glass & sent one of the clips into the long grass, he then proceeded to squirt the reflector with Amberclens, subsequently transferring all the reflective material from the substrate onto his cloth.
Be warned.
M

You can remove the outer lens from the body and check the inner reflector and clean the inner lens while you’re at it.
It’s possible the the seal isn’t the best and some filth is getting in, but I suspect that you’ll find the inner lens is buggered

The headlamp shows the typical deterioration of early reflectors where the silvering is burned off by the heat of the bulb and deposits on the lens.
You can easily dismantle the headlamp and clean the lens. However the reflector would need to be re-silvered. Easier and cheaper to buy a replacement headlamp off a later F where the issue had been addressed.

I don’t suppose you know the approximate year when the silvering was upgraded, mine is a 1998 car with headlights every bit as good as any I’ve seen & they look original. This info might act as a guide to others with similar problems. Next time I have the bonnet up I’ll see if there’s a date code visible (house jobs this weekend, the MD thinks I’ve spent enough time in the workshop).
M

I think (ie don't know) that the heat from the bulbs causes some of the reflector material to "lift" and it condenses on the lenses internally and this no doubt could be cleaned off the glass lenses. The reflectors however can very easily be damaged by cleaning and if I'm correct in my first statement are prob NFG already with some material missing (prob the shiny bit).
As I see it you have 3 choices:
Get some good S/H ones which is easier said than done.
Get some new ones from Rimmers at over £200 each (ouch) but to make you feel better my TF ones are over £400 each (ouch, ouch)
Get the reflectors re silvered, some companies offer this service but you will have to do your own due diligence as I've no idea of costs or how good this is or lasts.
Once sorted you could consider changing the bulbs to LED which should solve the heat problem, they are off course illegal but that's only really important on one day and they could easily be changed back for that day.

Being a monumentally inquisitive bugger, I made a lame excuse about wanting some screws from the garage & went to look at my headlights.
My off side headlight is date coded 07/11/02 & made in Belgium, the other is original to the car. Could it be that the O/S light units were not up to scratch & subsequently required replacement. Am I over thinking it or could this be another story to add to the list of oddball MG information.
M

Yeah M, my thinking too, only if I'm careful, nothing to lose other than clips in the long grass. LOL

Thanks Cobber, yep I can and will pull them apart and see for myself and get the full experience of yeah they're buggered, or nope.

Thanks David, yeah, a later car, maybe another parts car, is what I'm currently enquiring about, a 2000 MGF. Might be good for headlights and a fixable engine at least.

Airportable wrote:

Being a monumentally inquisitive bugger, I made a lame excuse about wanting some screws from the garage & went to look at my headlights.
My off side headlight is date coded 07/11/02 & made in Belgium, the other is original to the car. Could it be that the O/S light units were not up to scratch & subsequently required replacement. Am I over thinking it or could this be another story to add to the list of oddball MG information.
M

I have two cars both with dulled offside lights, yours M makes three!

Deepfat, I didn't realise LED bulb retrofitted were illegal. I wonder if that is so here in Au?

Volcano the law as always is a bit of a mish mash here, HID's and LED's are technically not illegal if the light unit was designed and tested with them fitted, however when you upgrade them the "E" conformity markings no longer apply as they are not "as" tested. This of course doesn't apply to new cars with LED's etc as the lights were tested with them fitted originally. I'm currently fitting DRL's to a spare set of heads which may or may not cross the line so I will wire them in thru one fuse which will be in my pocket come MOT time.
Airportable I currently have fitted what appears to be a unique O/S headlight designed and made with only 3 screws in the sidelight cover and nobody knows why, the N/S light is a replacement with the normal 4 screws. The photo shows that the little bit of moulding that sits in the middle of the cover doing nothing on 4 screw lights once was a continuation of the main body moulding.