Carburetors from a XK120C type?

I acquired an 1970 series 2 E type FHC recently and it has been fitted with H8 carburetors and the little brass tag on them says AUC702L and R. Looking at the Burlen catalogue indicates that these carbs are off a 1952 XK120 C type. Could one of you confirm this? Here are photos of the carbs mounted on the engine:-



The carbs seem to have been set up OK by whoever put them on. I checked the air flow balance, that the butterfly valve was fully open when the accelerator was full down, that the pistons hit the bridge with a nice clink and the idle mixture setting which seems fine. But whether the needles are OK for the car I don’t know. I guess I need to remove a dashpot and remove a needle to get a part number.
The vacuum advance on the distributer has been removed since there doesn’t appear to be a port on the front carb to provide a pressure signal.
I guess the question is should I keep these carbs on the car or replace them with a more modern pair of HD8s?

These are not original, and they are valuable weather replicas or originals.

Personally, I would rather have the series 1 triple HD8’s and accompanying manifold/air cleaner system, but this is a highly personal preference.

They are REPRODUCTIONS as made by Burlen, with many obvious deviations from the original SU made H8 carburetters as fitted to ‘production’ C-types and rarely optional on XK140MC…
But amazingly strange that someone would purchase reproduction H8s to fit to an E-type, with the later HD8 far more readily available and indeed a far far better 2 inch carburetter than the H8 carburetter…

A USA specification Series 2 E-type would have originally had twin 2 inch Strombergs; a very compromised carburetter in order to satisfy the then recently introduced exhaust emission standards unique to USA, whereas all other Series 2 E-types built for all other non-USA markets were fitted with triple HD8 SU carburetters but clearly that will also require an original triple HD8 Inlet Manifold, and revised throttle linkages… so depends on your budget. Reproduction triple HD8 carburetters, inlet manifold, and linkages are readily available from Burlen - at a price - but you do find second hand set ups for sale from time to time as well…

So would you recommend that I remove the reproduction H8s and fit two HD8s? I read on forum posts that three carbs are only of benefit at high rpms and I have no intention of going there
Stuart

I would recommend removing the reproduction H8s and selling them. I have no idea what they are worth, but look at what Burlen sells new reproductions for and I would guess it is something less than that. If you want to go back to stock, which should just bolt on if nothing was modified, put on a pair of Stromberg ZSs. A used pair should be available for a modest price since so many Series 2 owners have converted to triple SUs. Two SU HD8s should work as well. They are a little bigger than the ZSs, sexier and pricier. If you buy a used set, make sure they will fit the E Type as those made for Healeys and some others will not.

Similar opinion to Bob,
Depends what you want to do, and what matters to you…
Personally I think its best to simply return your car to its original twin Stromberg carburetter set-up as appropriate to 1970 - this was only early days of the USA exhaust emissions modifications - so not overly complex, albeit significantly inferior performance to the UK/Rest-of-World triple SU HD8 set-up…

Or if you want a much better driving/performing E-type bite the bullet and upgrade your 1970 Series 2 to the UK triple SU HD8 set up…
I cannot see any redeeming features in retaining these 1950s reproduction H8s, nor indeed replacing them with only two HD8s…