The Ecumenical British Sports Car

The Elva Courier  represents the best of british sports car design and contains parts from every major manufacturer.


From MG we get the Engine and Transmission  - and We are official NAMGAR Members (North American MGA Register)
The Front Hubs axles and Steering Rack are MG Midget or more specifically Morris Minor
The Ring and pinion are MG Midget or Morris Minor as well - Lots of factory ratios (3.5 to 5.12)
The steering wheel is TD or TF

The MG guys are uncertain of the mongrel heritage and keep a safe distance



From Triumph we get the front suspension uprights (herald), the steering universal, the heater assembly and a lot of bushings for the Elva designed rear suspension.

The local Portland Triumph club allows us to attend social gatherings - if we bring wine along

From Jaguar we get the front suspension bushings and pedal pads for the brake and clutch XK120 for the bushings - some sedan for the pedal pads

Never really see the Jaguar car show guys, the jaguar drivers come around and share a pint



From Austin Healey - we get the generator with the rear mounted tach drive - It was a good thing in racing to know if your water pump was still turning - and this generator gives RPM and indication of a missing belt (despite the MGA Engine having a tach drive off of the camshaft)

Healey Guys like the car - and the sprite guys share parts



Rootes Group (Sunbeam, Hillman)  We get the Minx brakes and master cylinders (two)  A bias bar system

Is there a Sunbeam Club



We get the rear end assembly from the One point Five (with other parts welded on)

Again



From the Morris Minor we get a bunch of parts - Wiper motor and wipers arms, Steering assembly, switchgear, Ignition and assorted bushings.

I don't know about these guys - I want a Minor so I will have to find out



Shock front and rear are the same as the Lotus Elite (rears are slightly different utilizing a lower bushing mount)

Lotus club guys invite us to track events - very appropriate



There are more parts - but I will have to look to find them on your car

Fuel Level Sender - All Cars - General

Fuel level sending has been the providence of electrical resistance since somewhere in the 1930's when electrification of the automobile hit full stride.  The Ford Model A used a very clever sight gauge so that you actually saw a liquid representation of fuel level - neat design but expensive.

http://www.facebook.com/Fuellevel

Resistance Level worked very well and was easy to understand  -  X Ohms Full - Y Ohms Empty

Simple

And then suddenly somebody decided to add alcohol -  to fuel -

Methanol and ethanol contain soluble and insoluble contaminants.[5] Halide ions, which are soluble contaminants, such as chloride ions, have a large effect on the corrosively of alcohol fuels. Halide ions increase corrosion in two ways: they chemically attack passivating oxide films on several metals causing pitting corrosion, and they increase the conductivity of the fuel. Increased electrical conductivity promotes electrical, galvanic and ordinary corrosion in the fuel system. Soluble contaminants such as aluminum hydroxide, itself a product of corrosion by halide ions, clogs the fuel system over time. To prevent corrosion the fuel system must be made of suitable materials, electrical wires must be properly insulated and the fuel level sensor must be of pulse and hold type (or similar). In addition, high quality alcohol should have a low concentration of contaminants and have a suitable corrosion inhibitor added.

So if you turn to any car chat blog (ANY CAR CHAT BLOG)  - Issues on failed fuel level sensors are driving OBD II cars to the shoulder.

So we need Smiths (Stewart Warner, VDO, Veglia)  to make Pulse and Hold fuel senders for us  - Easy fix

But not really

I have been working on a new non-contact fuel level sensor that I have the patent rights to utilize.

We are applying the sensor to aviation (aircraft, rotorcraft) - In aviation we don't have alcohol,  but we can't put wires in the tank - something about electricity and fuel

Aviation  requires - what cars - all cars using Alcohol mixed fuel need - A non contact fuel level sensor

I have my Morris Minor Smiths Sender above  and the Aviation Sender Unit Below

We use a new concept in our sender called Magnetoresistance - certain materials change resistance in the presence of a rotating magnetic field and they can do this from as far as 3/8" away actually from the dry side of the tank.

Most of us see this everyday in the compass on our smartphone

There is no pivot or contact resistance,  so the float can be smaller and the range can be larger (fuller fulls and emptier empties)

Picture below shows the little magnet next to the pivot pin

Neat thing is that the  output of this sensor  can mimic a resistive sensor - only issue is getting vehicle power to the sensor chip.

Hey if you find this interesting let me know

scott.philiben@ciescorp.com