Hi Clive,
Thanks for the offer re the 1 3/4" - as it happens the HS2s are rebuilt and sitting on the manifold ready to go on... I'll see how I get on setting them up, once I bite the bullet and start taking the whole top end apart.
Overdrive - mm, yes... I did do RBRR in the old Toledo when it was still a 1300, and we survived ok (no overdrive in that one) but o/d certainly would make it a lot nicer to drive.
Just picked up the stainless exhaust manifold. I like the idea of a simple exhaust - would be interesting to see how much noise it makes with just a single box though