Hi All,
Complete newcomer to this forum which I found whilst searching for "AE Brico" on Google.
The parts that "Kiwi Rover" has un-earthed are for the AE Brico fuel injection system which was being developed in Coventry from the late 1960's until the project came to a premature halt in 1971. The injectors and ECU are instantly recognisable - for many years I had a full set of cut-away parts for the system in a fitted case given to me by my father who was the Project Director for the fuel injection system at AE Brico from 1968 to 1971.
The "ram" type component attached to the throttle linkage is the later type throttle position indicator if my memory serves correctly some 40 years on. The two OC28 power transistors visible on the ECU casing acted as solid state switches to actuate the injectors which were fired on receipt of a timing pulse from a magnet/coil or magnet/reed switch assembly mounted either on the distributor drive (as in Kiwi Rover's unit) or driven off one end of the camshaft. The shiny round object inside the ECU is the manifold pressure transducer.
The system was "untimed", that is it fired 2 banks of 4 injectors (on a V8) or two banks of 3 injectors ( on a straight six) or two banks of 2 injectors (on a four cylinder engine) every 720 degrees of crankshaft rotation. Trials during the development of the system had shown that "timed" injection (where the fuel is injected at a fixed point in the cycle of each cylinder, usually when the inlet valve is open) produced significantly higher power outputs, but also emissions of unburnt hydro-carbons whereas fuel economy was very similar. Furthermore, an untimed system was far less complex and so less expensive to produce.
The system was fitted to a small number (46?) Aston Martin DB6 / DBS models with the straight six engine, I believe 2 of which are still running with the system. It was also fitted to a number of Rover P6 3500cc cars however I believe all of these were experimental or development vehicles and I don't think any production cars were made. It may also have been fitted to Rover P6 2000 & 2200cc cars again only for development work. At least 2 Ferrari Dino 246's were fitted with the system as development vehicles, one red and one white - a then 14 year old boy well remembers his father arriving home in a white Ferrari one evening! It was also intended to be a standard fitment on the Jaguar V12 engine then in the final stages of development for use in the XJ12 saloon and Series 3 E Type.
I also remember a Family Day for Brico employees held at Silverstone (probably 1969 or 1970) where the Rover 3500, Ferrari Dino and Aston Martin DB6 were demonstrated at high speed on the track.
A number of opinions, all of them wrong, have been offered on the web for why the project was suddenly cancelled in late 1970, leaving Jaguar in particular in the lurch. The real reason was that Rolls Royce went bust. Why you may ask would Rolls calling in the receivers affect a fuel injection system for motor cars? Brico Engineering was a subsidiary of Associated Engineering Group (AE) who were owed some £8m (a vast sum in 1970) by Rolls when it went into administration. The Directors of AE saw little chance of getting their money back, or at least not for a considerable time and the fuel injection project still required substantial funds over the next 3 years to continue development and bring it to market, money which the company no longer had. The rights were therefore sold to Lucas who shelved it preferring to continue with their own electro mechanical system then being used on the Triumph TR6 and 2500PI saloons