It just so happens I am also working on a 1958 Truck 348 tri-power for my Father (in-law) for his 1958 Impala. The only difference is I am going to use the original style 2G rochester carbs and linkage.
So when Ford did the tripower for their small block and Fe engine in the 60's, they DID NOT use the 2100 but went with the 2300 Holley instead. The 289 tripower used 3 200CFM carbs for a rough 600CFM, and the FE used 3 @ 240CFM for a rough 720CFM. I say rough because Ford never published CFM totals for their tri-powers. Most experts (and I agree) that it was probably at least 100-250 CFM more than those rough totals.
Problem with the Autolites is the two end carbs. No prob with a middle carb running full idle cicuits and choke (although getting to those middle idle circuits would be a bitch.) But Ford never built "dummy" carbs for the autolites without idle circuits and choke assembly. Which is not a huge problem, but does make tuning more comlicated, You can either play with a couple carbs and delete the idle circuit but you had better know EXACTLY what you are doing and how to compensate, or the easiest is to just run 3 regular carbs and deal with the tuning headache.
As far as carbs to choose, it gets even trickier, smallest carb is the .98 which is right at 190 CFM, very doable but hard to find carb from the early 60's, jump to the 1.01 or 1.02 and now you have 240 to 245 respectivley, and the common 1.08 is at 287. Makes those puny but workable 2G Rochesters look pretty good, don't they????
Might be better to adapt 3 YF one barrell carburetors at 187 CFM each.
You might also want to give Jon from PONY'S carbs a call since he is now doing a tri-power for the fords using the 2100's. If you can get him to share some info it might go far to helping you out. But if he thinks you will pay or he decides that that information should cost you, he will not share!!!
Hope that helps, Let us know how it works out.
Bill White
White Automotive
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HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!