Repairing the exhaust manifold

The more I work on this scooter, the more I think I must be mad.  The whole thing is in such a state, its hardly worth the effort.  Its certainly not worth the financial investment - I have already spent £640 and I am nowhere near getting this thing running, let alone road legal.

Every bit of this bike appears to be either missing or damaged (I really would love to know the history of it all)
Take the engine for example; Although the eBay advert said "Looks like its all there" My engine was missing a carburetor, a pull-starter assembly, an air-duct and a beltomatic Integral safety switch [and remember, this is just the engine - elsewhere, there is no electrics, electrical switches, lights, or brake cables.  In addition I am also missing all of the pleasantries like badges, footrests and useable seats - the whole thing is in a very sorry state]

However, being the 'glass-half-full' (or should that be 'plain stupid'?) sort of chap that I am, I've been pressing on and collecting the missing bits here and there, and kidding myself that I could actually resuscitate this poor old scooter.

But thats enough about the 'Missing' parts, what about the 'Damaged' parts?
The cylinder barrel is just one example.  The exhaust manifold has had its bolt hole smashed off.  In the early days of this project I was of the mind to get it into a specialist welder to build up the iron casting and machine back to shape again, but as costs have started to escalate, I decided to look for a solution that I could do myself.

Its not elegant, but I think its adequate and man enough to do the job of holding the exhaust tight to the engine.  A simple threaded plate held in place by a strap around the manifold.
And its a darn sight cheaper solution than buying a new barrel - There is someone currently selling a barrel/head/piston set on German eBay for £128