engine / carb size is all about the flow rate of the fuel air mix at any rpm. the bigger the carb the less speed the fuel air mix has. thus bigger carbs only work well at high rpm when the speed of the mix gets high enough. a small carb will work best for low rpm as the mix speed is high at low revs but reaches terminal velocity before peak rpm and the engine chokes. add ign timing, exhaust design etc and its easy to stuff up by fiddling.
early pe's were designed for a bit more low end than later (t,x z)which were basically a/c rm's with a flywheel.