i'm a student at wyotech right now and at the end of each six week phase i get 3 days to use the shop to work on my car. i was thinking the first thing i can do is the exhaust. i was thinking of either redoing the stock/current one (it has dynomax mufflers) or installing electric cutouts, or both. my questions are:

what setup/brand should i run for the best performance with a good mix of sound quality?

i also have a catalytic convertor that is all rusted out, should i replace it or just gut it?

would it be better to run just a longtube setup or electric cutout?

should i run a stock style (with mufflers) exhaust setup or go for a more true duel setup?

what type of headers (long/short & what size) should i get?, i've heard of people having problems installing longtube headers.


i was planning hooking everything up and then having a shop weld it all together to make it air tight.

 

For your car, I would run shorties. No point in suffering ground clearance or torque (from what I hear) with longtubes on a 305, unless you have some serious HP. Most people just suggest shorties and a good 3" cat-back. Probably the best headers you can get are the Hooker 2055s (Jegs has them). You can gut the cat, weld in a straight pipe, or get a high-flow cat, it's really up to you and if your state has emissions or not. High-flow cats only cost $50 to $100 anyway. As for a cat-back, I would just stick with any decent 3" system (Hooker seems to be popular for this, too).

 

Another vote for the 2055's. The only other headers I would consider for your set-up would be the macs (very close to the 2055's) or the SLP's. I would then purchase a TPI cat-back of your choice and buy a universal 3" cat since you can have all the fab work done yourself.