Stag fuel consumption, carbs & manifold

[Tim Buja <buja@domain.elided>]

Mike Wattam wrote:
> ...car went very well (despite abysmal fule consumption).

Note that the mileage number I gave (18.34) was in US gallons.  This
would be 22.9 mpg in imperial gallons.  Is this really that bad,
considering that I have an automatic transmission and I was pulling a
small trailer full of camping supplies?  My TR8 mileage tends to run in
the low 20s (US gallons), so I didn't consider the Stag numbers to be
out of line.  Also, our traveling companion's modified TR6 was matching
us pretty evenly for gallons used over the same distance between fillups.

> ... Note that both carbs feed into a common manifold chamber, so
> looking at individual spark plugs to guess which carb is giving the
> problems, is really a waste of time.  For this reason, a Gunsons
> Colortune does not work well on the Stag unless you make identical
> alterations to both carbs at the same time.

Does the US manifold differ from the UK manifold?  My manifold has
two chambers under the carbs, with the left carb feeding cylinders
2, 3, 4 & 8 and the right carb feeding 1, 4, 6 and 7.  There is a
small balancing port between the chambers, but I wouldn't consider
this to be a "common" chamber.  My TR6 manifold has a tube of about
the same size connecting the two carbs (I can't remember what the
TR8 manifold has inside).

BTW, thanks to all for your comments on the half shaft grease and
carb tuning.

Tim Buja - Rockford, Illinois, USA - 80 TR8, 73 Stag, 72 TR6