Why we chose an alternator, not a generator, for our Elva
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Update by Tim Suddard to the
Elva Mk VI project car
Nov 26, 2024 |
Elva,
alternator,
generator,
Elva Mk VI
As with much of this car’s history, details are also fuzzy regarding the charging system. Most of the 30 of the cars that Elva built were sprint racers and therefore wouldn’t have lights, except for presumably a brake light.
The two Mk VI endurance race cars–including
our chassis No. 13 prepped for the 12 Hours of Sebring–definitely had lights front and rear as well as a light for the right-side number panel visible to crew and officials. Stripping down the body proved evidence of those lights, which helps us prove that the car had not been rebodied along the way.
So, we would need a charging system, not the magneto likely used on sprint racers.
Alternators had not become prevalent in 1962, so the car would have been equipped with a generator. Sadly, generators are heavy, inefficient and not as well suited for the high-rpm rigors of racing. (Trust us, we went through generators almost as often as we went through tires on our
TR3 project a few years back.)
[Video: How to make the switch from a generator to an alternator]
So, thankfully, a company in England called
Tudor has taken the appropriate Lucas 39/40 generator for a car like our Elva and reengineered the case to contain an alternator. We purchased one directly from their booth at the
Beaulieu Autojumble and carried it home in our luggage next to all the other illegal substances.
For mounting bracketry, we called Coventry Climax engine expert Steve Sanett at
Penta Motorsports. He told us that the FWA was configured for a generator bracket. He had them, or could make them, and he would be back in touch as soon as he had a solution. We will report on this bracketry and the installation as soon as we receive it.
The generator doesn’t come with a fan, though. We had an old Sprite generator in our parts box and cleaned, painted and installed the fan.