steverjohnson68 said:
Hello, I have a car fitted with the SU Automatic Enrichment Device. Does anyone know the history of this fitment to "our cars" . I have the 1969 factory workshop manual which says "all the lastest cars are fitted with the AED" . Obviously it was deleted after a certain commision number because it does not feature on the later models. In the parts catalogue there is no record of where it was fitted from and upto either. What was the story with this device? Was it an unreliable embarressment to Rover that was used for a short period and then withdrawn, or was it deleted by Leyland in the interests of cost-cutting or rationalisation? Is there anyone out there who has any knowledge on this subject? Regards Steve.
The AED is announced in the Rover Service Newsletters of November 1968. The bold statement says that
all Rover vehicles fitted with the V8 engine will have it installed eventually, and that it would start to roll out in January 1969 on the P5B, eventually launching on the P6B in March 1969 (if I remember correctly, as I don't have newsletters that late), on suffix 'D'.
By June 1969 Rover newsletters state that some P6B's are again being built with a manual choke due to 'supply problems'. The newsletters are also full of items about maintainance and problems with them.
I suspect that by Autumn 1969 most P6B's were back to manual choke, however I believe all P5B's at this point still have the AED. It is possible to tell a car originally with an AED now by the pipework. Of course all NADA 3500S's had the device from new, mounted in a different place to the UK cars.
Barring the obvious lack of choke set-up I suspect the carbs are also unusual on AED fitted cars - as we found out recently the mixture screws turn in opposite directions to each other.
It's a very rare sight on a UK car now. Barring mine, built in the April (which works well), I've only seen two others still active, and one of those was on a car 30 numbers away from mine.
From what I gather Burlen's are remanufacturing the AED with unleaded friendly seals now. The device was also fitted on other cars of the period including Jaguars, hence the demand.
cheers
Nick
