The experienced Jag guru got the car to run well, but reckons that the carb linkages really need a total rethink.
The carbs are shoe-horned in - I think the linkages are quite clever and cant imagine any other way to do it (even if I wasntt the one doing it)!!!
Car is running so I will ask him next time.

 

That looks like a 3.8 style linkage, I'm not sure if it's E Type or Mark X. To be honest, 3 carbs that big are way overcarburated for that engine. I had a friend who built up a 4.2 engine for an E Type as a pure race engine, and it made a genuine 265 hp on the dyno, when a regular production engine makes about 180-190hp. He said at full throttle and 5500 rpm on the dyno the pistons of the triple carbs never lifted more than halfway.

I bet if you bought the manifold and dual carbs from an XJ6 or S Type/Mark 2, you wouldn't have any performance drop at all. The triple 2" HD8's are worth a fair bit now, you might even come out cash positive to change carbs. A pair of manual choke HIf44's would be a nice carb setup. In a bit of irony, the needle profile of a 1300cc Mini carb is almost exactly identical to the profile for a dual carb XJ6.

 

That is really interesting - the old guy I bought the car from loved getting cars to go fast . I suspect his vision was to have an E-type arrangeent under the bonnet. I dont know enough about jaguars (yet). I hhad an S2 XJ6 years ago but cant remember what that had

 

Thx - I have had numerous cars and it does seem like its bit extreme in terms of fuel . I'm actually wondering if a dyno would help sort things out. I will have to google to see if there are any in South Australia