i have ceramic coated hooker headers. 2 1/2 inch into 2 1/2 inch collectors to 2 1/2 inch baffled dual exhaust pipes. the baffled system is the same stuff that is used on side pipes except they are long pipes running under the car all the way with turned down tip at the rear

 

I have headman headers and like them.

 

Ceramic coated Hooker Competion with Hooker matching exhaust system.

 

Hookers

 

After trying 3 other brands that did not fit at all Doug's Header sidepipes (with no dings and dents) on a '68 NOM big block.

 

Stahl

 

I ran the stan's tri for a couple of years. Never did a dyno before or after but they were a very easy install and plenty of clearance on both sides. Changing to LS so no longer need them. They are for sale over in the for sale forum.

 

I put a set of Hedman headers on mine right after I bought the car. Bought them from a forum member here.
I then went with an Allen's exhaust system.

When it comes to fitting together, you're somewhat in the ballpark and that's it. The headers and exhaust were easy to install but that connection was a pain in the azz and it'll probably be that way on any set up you choose.
Normally it would be a trip to the local muffler shop and for a few bucks and 15 minutes, you're good to go.
Not so with my '75 as no muffler shop would touch it without having cats. Luckily I know the owner of my local shop and he helped me out by bending up some adapters after I brought him the dimensions. Welded them in myself but was never really satisfied with the fit in that area. I remember having to slightly flatten the left adapter pipe to clear the TH400 linkage. A muffler shop would have done a much neater job.

That said, the headers and exhaust system were still in excellent condition when I sold it to my friend last year. They were 12 years old and I put over 25K miles on them. He's had no issues either.

 

I bought the ceramic coated ones and I did a cursory review to check that they would fit. I had my clutch Z-thing out of the car and spaced-out on that.

That's these guys here:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Patriot+Exhaus...025-1/10002/-1

Everything looked good so I drilled them and installed an O2 sensor bung.....well, it turned out that they won't work with the manual clutch linkage...but now I had modified them so I could not return them.

I had to cut off a tube and reroute with parts from my old headers.....so I did and painted my goofy tube with some Hi-Temp silver paint.

I'll replace them one of these days. BUT - nevertheless they're actually looking ok and I've had them 7 years. Not that I put a lot of miles on the car, but they've been ok. I ended up chopping up the tail end and making my own exhaust setup, but other than my goofy tube, they look ok....acutally quite nice.

They now point out that they won't work with a manual tranny so nobody should make the same bonehead mistake I made.