Hi All. After some more help/advice

Cutting a long story short I have been doing some "refurbishment" and ordered a complete new exhaust set (exhaust, elbows, nuts, bolts, gaskets). All looks genuine and the same as before (came from VdL). The question is - what order do you put this all together? I tried various ways but I just cannot make everything quite align/fit and don't want to strain anything. The Haynes manual is not helpful saying that it is an easy fitment!

I know you should only loosely fit everything and then tighten up (starting with the bolts to the crankcase). However, the furthest I have got is everything connected except the bolts that hold the two halves of the bracket together (the ones closest to the outside of the car). If I dismantle everything and rebuild making sure that those bolts are OK then I can't make the top bracket reach the crankcase stud. If I get the brackets OK then I can't connect at the manifolds

I don't want to force anything too much and so am concerned that even if I did get that final connection then tightening everything will be a major struggle and/or risk damaging the exhaust or cylinder head.

Second (even more embarrassing question ) is...in struggling with bolting/unbolting the exhaust at the manifold/cylinder head, I managed to drop a nut. I didn't hear it hit the garage floor - there was more of a metallic rattle/bang. I couldn't see the nut lying on the metal engine shield at the bottom and so am concerned that it may have fallen into the air cowling (either via the spark plug holes or via the air filter). I guess I ought to investigate further but am not sure of the best way to approach this and don't know what the inside of the cowling is like. Can I just undo the bolts round the top and lift the top off to see if anything fell inside or is it more complicated? (I am already fearing the reply!)

Thanks all

Do not have too many sleepless nights over this. A small M8 nut inside fan cowling is unlikely to cause any damage. I have dismantled engines and the common find is spark plugs but have also found spanners and other bit and the car still ran ok. There is a small cover at the base of the cowling where it meets the sump. You can remove the two M6 sump bolts that hold this to see if you can find your missing nut.
I have had a few very badly fitting exhausts which have been ok and my procedure is to fit what you can loosely then fasten the exhaust to the elbows. I should say here that I prefer to use high tensile studs in the head rather than bolts as the vulnerable threads in the head need protecting. I have sometimes had to fit longer oversize bolts to those exhaust brackets to pull them in line which will bend the brackets to suit. Correct size bolts can be fitted when you get a better alignment. Once all the bracket fasteners are tight I nip up the bolts/nuts fixing the elbows to the cylinder head.

I have just restored mine and I have dropped a 7mm socket into the spark plug hole,I tried going round the bottom of the cowling with a magnet to see if something moves and took off the small plate at the bottom but nothing.We will see if it reappears....p.s Whilst taking my engine apart I found a 20 yr old Lemon in there.����