Ok, I was down at the Beaulie autojumble this weekend (definitely recommend it) and was trying to source some bits. I got most however I couldn't get a 4-2-1 manifold. There was a guy from London claiming to be a specialist in old Escorts but he knew even less than me. He had some GT exhausts but they had unequal lengths. Surely there are better ones out there? What are people using?

Also, I have a non GT engine from a donor. I believe I can get a better carb and inlet manifold, but it has to be within limits ie . 23/24 mm choke. I was measuring the opening at the bottom of a carb and had values like 26/28 (it was an imperial set of calipers!!). The guy claimed this was off a 1300 / 1600.
What I don't want to do is buy one and get a disqualification. So, what is the best one to get hold of, and anyone know of any for sale?

Exhaust: forget anything to do with a standard escort MK2 exhaust. A lot of people use Tony Law 4-1 exhausts, work ok even though they don't look like they should - the problem is they cost £366 (although that is for a full system). Stuart Taylor Motorsport do something very similar for about half the price and if you're on a budget I'd go for one of them. I think the record so far for most spent by anyone on an exhaust is £500 btw

Carbs: Sounds like you had the right one. You want a Weber DGAV and the choke sizes are stamped on the body of the carb (can be difficult to spot under the crap) DON'T bother with anything else and you definitely need the manifold from a GT engine to go with it. If you buy this months issue of 'Classic Ford' there are several people adverising both items for fairly decent cash (£50ish for a carb £20ish for a manifold). If you do buy them seperately try to make sure one of them has the throttle linkage btw.

I'm engineer/mechanic for car 41 (Brett Townsend) and the old car spent most of last year in 4th place in the championship (and was featured in the 750MC adverts) with an engine I built. New car this year and I've had a couple of problems with the new engine which are about to be sorted. No reason you should know that of course so I'll let you off this once If you think I'm talking nutsack about something post a reply!

I've got carb and manifold if you are interested, also loads of 1300 engine parts including blocks, pistons cranks etc

Yep, interested. Where in the country are you?

I am near Peterborough but travel about quite a bit.