G'day Jack and Kye
Thanks for the kind words Jack, I will continue to update as things progress.
Well Kye it should be obvious I don't know a lot about old Victas but am trying to learn as I go. I only have my old Rotomo, newly acquired HG and HG Palmer and parts that came with HG (1st pic of post) so trying to identify thing isn't easy.
The black barrel is the one in question and hasn't got rounded fins like your mod 1 but is quite different to the others I have.
I may be wrong but I feel the answer lays in the different style port at the head end.
So if you or someone else with a mod 1 could please have a look at the ports (and hopefully take a pic) to see if they are the same as mine. If they are the same and no one has a better answer then I am going to call it a 1 1/2 !
Cheers