Hello Jaglovers, I am working now on my 3.8 engine, sold my XJ 3.4L engine, left a little pain, because it was stunning machine.
Having a small budget to fix my e type, bought a Mark X manifold.
Yesterday I had a good idea to adjust these manifolds
All things are possible Frank and there will be many in the E Type fraternity running twin Strombergs agog with anticipation of the result of your endeavor.
Best of luck.
BTW are you religious🙏
Peter B.
I am unclear on your modification, and the picture is of no help: could you explain further?
TIA!
I think he’s saying he milled the manifold down, to move the carbs closer to the engine, but isn’t the issue with the Mk10 manifold that it points upward more than the E-type manifold, causing the carbs to interfere with the hood?
It doesn’t seem like 14 mm off the manifold will solve that, but maybe I’m mistaken.
While loathe to say it can’t be done I’m unable to visualise a mod that will work. The difference between the MkX and E-type manifolds isn’t so much their flange angles as Ben points out, though there is an angular component, as is their flange elevations - that is the carb flanges of E-type intake manifolds are lower down. The flanges themselves are not angled vs the head but parallel, and the carb float chambres are level, not angled.
But do let us know how you make out. Your’s is a question that has come up many times before and no-one, to my knowledge, has yet figured out a viable mod.
I think that the 14 mm will be taken off the bottom of the manifold flange and tapered to the top where nothing is taken off. I suppose a similiar taper, but in the other direction could be take off the flanges where the carbs fit to give a more horizontal position of the carbs. I have a MK 10 manifold and will do some measurements.
This will explain the geometry of the E-type manifold, in this case the 4.2. The geometry of the 3.8 manifolds is the same.
The red lines, tracing the head flange, carb flanges and float chambres, are parallel. The green lines depict the drop required to allow the dashpots to clear the bonnet, about an inch.
If you are able to taper the head flange such that it lowers the carb flanges sufficiently you would also need to taper the carb flanges to level the carbs. This, I expect, would open up a can of worms, not the least of which would be figuring out the linkages.
Edit:
This short video addresses the topic rather succinctly.
If you look carefully at the Mk X manifold you can see that the carb flanges are actually lifted upwards relative to the head flange, whereas the E-type manifold carb flanges are lowered downward.
I can’t think of a reason in the world why SU carbs NEED to be perfectly level. Having them tilted a bit should make no difference at all in operation. Being tilted front-to-back is another matter, and could require tweaking the float level. But a side-to-side tilt will make no difference at all. In fact, I’ve seen plenty of cars with SU carbs where they were tilted from the factory. Look at many/most MGs, for example.
Regards,
Ray L.
That’s similar to what I did to get a MK 10 4.2 manifold to clear the bonnet of my S1 XJ6. But I only removed 3-4 mm from the bottom edge of the flange, tapering it to just clean up the top edge. The flange isn’t thick enough to remove 14 mm. Perhaps the OP cut the runners and intends to weld back at an angle?
Anyway, there’s was a lot in the archives 10+ years ago when I fitted mine, and IIRC only one bloke managed to get a MK 10 manifold into an E-type. He did it by mounting the manifold upside-down (not kidding).
Good point, though I can’t recall ever seeing SUs tilted downward.
Well Frank now you have received some replies to your enquiery perhaps you get the gist
of my first post. But hey !! if prayers are answered and you pull off this , shall we say,
" Achievement" you only need two more and y`all be “on route” to the Vatican.
For a second “Achievement” may I suggest the fitment of a long tail T5 into a SWB E Type,
Diciples will flock to you from another thread…
Any suggestions for a third?
Peter B
Then why are you showng a photo of a 4.2 XJ engine and manifold?
Yes, Mini Coopers have severely tilted carbs, but the bowls are level.
The bowls on HS2, 4, and 6 can be re-oriented for the application… I can’t remember if the HS8 has the same capability.
Not as easily as the smaller SUs: they are mechanically keyed in their positions, on the 3500s.
If you cut of the locating lug Paul the float bowl can be positioned as requiref,
Ihave done this on the HS 8s on MK10 manifold fitted in my 120.
Peter B.
Could a possible solution be to fit another type of carb to the manifold? Perhaps a set of Weber side draft?
In an E Type, Weber’s present the same issue: a Weber manifold also “tilts” down, to the front.
Then, there’s getting them set up properly, which is nontrivial.
Properly set-up Storms or SUs, will be easier to tune, and work just fine for a street er.
What’s the problem here? Are E-type manifolds hard to come by?
Waaaay back in the day I drove a Triumph GT6 from Florida to Texas, and on the way it chucked its thrust bearings into the sump. That wiped out the crank and block, so replacement engine time. When I called up the junkyard I asked for an engine from a TR6 because they were far more common. The block is supposedly the same, different stroke yielding 2.5L instead of 2.0L.
For two engines that looked the same, there sure were a lot of differences! For one thing, the intake manifold on the GT6 was configured like the E-type pictured above, holding the Stranglebergs low to keep the damper tops from hitting the low hood. But on the TR6 engine, the manifold holds the carbs up high to keep them from hitting the wheel well, which was huge and intrusive on the TR6. The Stranglebergs were also a larger size. That TR6 manifold was simply not gonna work, though, so I had to install the GT6 manifold on the TR6 engine. I ran it briefly on the GT6 carbs, but quickly decided to find a way to fit the larger TR6 carbs on there. Ended up having to file a corner off the plastic damper knob for hood clearance.
Nickolas, really helpful picture, yes I working on the angle down wards, but this to much down, I think, don’t know if I can reached that.
I am cutting out 14mm so I can adjust the angle with some heat and welding it afterwards. Sending good picture later.
I bought two inlet manifolds one closed and one open.
Thanks for this nice picture.
