ok, i have a 90 L98 iroc with a decent amount of work done to the stock heads, substantial amount of intake work, etc. the problem is i have factory exhaust manifolds flowing into my factory dual cats, then Y pipe, then what looks like a 3.5" I pipe to a flowmaster 80 i assume. the manifolds both have bad gaskets, so they need to come off and i'm replacing them with a set of heddman headers (not sure of the part # but they're for our cars and have 1 5/8 primaries. buying them because i'm getting a deal on them) the guy im buying them from doesnt have a Y pipe for them, so i'm considering installing the headers myself and removing the rest of the exhaust, taking it to an exhaust shop and having them fab up either a Y pipe and a new I pipe (mine's rusting through and has some retarded bend in it where it goes over the rear axle) and putting a high flow single cat on it, and my current muffler. OR buying a 2.5" X pipe, 2 2.5" high flow cats, not sure which mufflers i'd use, and running true duals, and having them fab the rest of the exhaust. my questions are would it be worth it to go for true duals (would i run into clearance problems, how much would it cost total) and how much do you think it'd run for me to get a y pipe and I pipe fabbed and installed at an exhaust shop. sorry for the lengthy post but i figured i'd get it all done at once.

 

I'd get Hedman 68491 dual-cat headers for $370 from Summit that I can bolt into the stock exhaust rather than spend more money on what starts as a good deal on something that is going to require having a shop fabricate anything (read: $$$$$'s).

 

Idea..........fab some pipes, go with dual cats (low restriction or factory corvette) and a good cat back system designed for dual cats (flowmaster, magnaflow, etc. I converted mine to dual cats (thrush) and a flowmaster 3" cat back.

 

these headers wont line up with the current pipes that come off the headers and go to the cats will they?