G'day Wayne.
The decision to go non standard was not an easy (or cheap!) one.
However, the exhaust system itself was a combination of differing sizes and originality, and needed replacing, it was not possible to get a NOS "Y", and even if I fabricated one myself it would not be out of cast iron. So , the "originality" became a moot point for me. Mind you it took three years to make the decision.
There are better products for repairing cast iron these days than brazing rods, however since the original repairs were done this way it really precludes using anything else, particulary with a shape like this where you can not remove all the contaminated material.
Cast can only be welded so many times, last attempt it was cooled over 18 hour period, cracked within the week.
I must say that the 30 km trip home after I picked the old girl up was a bit of a worry, cost me over half a tank of fuel, was down to about 4 cylinders and blowing smoke like you would not believe. Kidded myself that it was due to the change in dynamics caused by my lovely new system, but was having serious doubts when I finally Huffed & Puffed into the shed. Halfway through changing out the plugs I had a brain wave and looked at the carby. The workshop had started the truck using the cold start (which it never needs) and it had jammed full on at the carby, was looking me in the face all along.
Been sitting in the shed since, while fitting the electronic ignition from Jolley Engineering. Similar decision process to above. Finished last night, quite shocked to actually have it start. If you knew what you were doing, this would be about a half hour job, I managed to drag it out way longer than that. Start was very quick and easy, 90% less smoke billowing out at the rear end. Plugs are set with a huge gap, so the spark is very intense. Test drive showed a much more lively truck, does not stop dead soon as you back off. Looking forward to doing some miles in it in the next month or so and see how much improvement there really is.
Thanks to Clive for the extra info on fitting this system:
http://www.hmvf.co.uk/pdf/IGNITIONMATTERS.pdf
it was most helpful indeed!
Rich.