The prize goes to @pete12345.

fearing the worst, I was speaking to a really fabulous bunch of guys at GEMM 4x4 in Larbert and they said to bring her along and someone would have a nosey.

so next day I did and the exhaust, while ‘patina’d’ was solid except it was blowing at the joint where the manifolds meet the down pipes. (They’d predicted the issue must be pre lambda if it were to affect the performance).

Turns out the garage who fitted the transfer box had removed this section of exhaust and had been a bit lazy putting it back. 5 different types of bolt/nut/stud arrangement and this is what I found on the LHS pipe (one bolt to get the other one off)…

I mean come on, the gaskets are only 60p
 

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So 6 nuts, 2 gaskets and 3 studs. Total cost: less than a tenner and some skin off my knuckles but it’s like I’ve got a new engine. Responsive, powerful, eager -and fuel economy up about 20% too.

well worth doing.