Webers for the e type

I understand Wiggles they play follow the leader, no originality but that’s who people are and the reason why they are “copy rights” laws

:joy: I wanted to say that SO BAD! :joy:

This exact topic came up in a post by one of my Facebook friends who has raced virtually his entire life.

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As a sage bar patron once said, “It is better to look good than feel good!”

Fernando…

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You can’t generalize like this. There are enormous differences in car prep, and driving skills that have more to do with lap times than the carbs. One year I went from running 60 series Hoosier tires to running 55 series Hoosiers and picked up 3 seconds on the 2 mile track in Portland, plus set a record for vintage cars at the Knox Mountain Hillclimb with them. Many people don’t know this about SU’s, but full throttle on my 375 hp engine on an engine dyno was still not enough to raise the pistons on triple 2" SU’s past the 75% level, indicating that the SU’s were capable of passing much more air than the engine needed. When Lou Fidanza was running his E Type in SCCA racing and beating Paul Newman’s factory 240zx team back in the 80’s I understand he scrapped the 2" SU’s for 1.75 inch.

I’m not trying to disabuse anyone from using Webers, they are great looking and sounding, and on a modified engine they give you a great idle, altho having said that last year I sold the ones I used on my street E Type and went back to SU’s. My comments were directed to those that expect better performance.

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He did: better throttle response, and plenty of flow.

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Just got rid of a set of Webber’s put on by previous owner …… I didn’t even bother with them…. Apart from that on my flat floor not really an option if going for a concour finish

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I won’t make any comments on the sucking sound of both. :roll_eyes:

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Your restraint knows no bounds.

None.

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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I’ll stick with the carbs :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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Cheaper. Fewer moving parts.

:laughing:

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Carbs are bad. ask any Instachat inflooincer.

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The story about Lou Fidanza is interesting. The carbs were not changed out because of better performance. He was up agaisnt Datsun and Paul Newman with their full factory support. As it was a Series 2 XKE, it originally had dual ZF’s. Datsun protested this and the fact that the nose in the bonnet was larger. The opening was solved by a picture from a brochure showing it was stock for that year. The carb switch was a compromise solution to the SU’s not being stock. The XKE still beat the snot out of Datsun with all of the Japanese big wheels brought in to see the victory. This was even after the XKE was hit to try to get it out of the field. I was there at this event and consulted on the carbs and bonnet opening. Not sure about more power or driveability. Most of the win goes to Freddy Baker. Car with him in it seemed to defy the laws of physics going into a corner.

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By far the ‘ace in the hole’: it also dampened my enthusiasm for Datsun/ Nissan, and Newman/Haas racing.

They were…objectionable wrt their 'nose in the air* superiority about the Datsuns, and to have the old, long-in-the-tooth Jag stomp’em was…pleasing.

As I recall, Lou found, tangentially to Datsun’s protest, that the 1.75" carbs not only provided plenty of air, the throttle response was better.

Given this all happened 35+ years ago, I myself might be recalling things with rose glasses…:smirk:

Later, I was at a JCNA show in Ohio with my race car (XKE) and they had me parked beside Lou Fidanza and his XKE race car. We swapped stories and he pointed out a few things I could do to go faster. I went back and made the changes. He was right. Not good changes for a street car but sure helped in the slalom. I ended up setting the record in the JCNA slalom and it still stands over 10 years later.

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Didn’t have anything to do with the skill of the driver did it, Dick?

The first time I ran the course, I kept going off course. Had to have someone ride with me to complete. Lots of practice helps. I did let Gary Hagopians grandson drive it. He had never even sat in it and the first time he took it around, he just about set a record. I am sure in the right hands, the car would have been even faster with practice. As you get older, you have to make the car faster as you are not getting younger and faster.

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When I was running autocrosses, when we’d be walking the course, I would take a piece of paper and a clipboard with me and draw the course, then I would go through it in my mind, and that lowered the number of DNFs that I had.

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Almost what we’d call a Solo I, in the states.