This is exhausting…

I see similar questions asked often, What color should I paint my truck?”…”What mufflers do you recommend?”…”What do you  think about my choice of wheels?”… etc.   I don’t understand why people ask these types of things that are personal preferences.  What you like in exhaust is very likely not what I like.   Why do you care what color I like for YOUR truck?  etc., and why do you need my affirmation on your decisions?

Here’s what I did;  I researched… for hours… and hours…  and then some more. Then I made a decision on what I liked best from the info I gathered.

Headers are cool and all, but not necessary or even beneficial on a stock or mildly built third-gen small block, plus a good header with good fitment is amazingly over-priced for little to no gain.

On my previous build of my 1979 GBody wagon, I use the Summit brand Holley/Hooker cast iron LS swap manifold knock-offs.  Great fit and plenty of flow for any stock or mildly built third-gen small block.

Summit raw cast iron manifolds. Click to enlarge – use browser back button to return.
Curing VHT paint on Summit cast iron manifolds. Click to enlarge – use browser back button to return.

This time I cheaped out even more and ordered the Patriot brand cast iron swap manifolds.  They were on back-order and the back-order wait kept dragging out, so once again I ordered the Summit brand because they were in stock for immediate shipment.

I opted for the raw cast iron and used VHT ceramic header paint.  It’s pretty good if you apply and cure it correctly per the manufactures instructions.  I sold my old oven I used last time and cured these in an old grille with a heat gun.  Turned out great and is still holding up at 17k+ miles and 4+ years.

Flowmaster 50 Series Delta Flow cutaway. Click to enlarge – use browser back button to return.

While there are many great sounding, good quality mufflers available, Flowmaster is the brand which my choice of exhaust shop sold, so after much research, I decided upon the Flowmaster 50 Series Delta Flow mufflers.   I had the local muffler shop (Expert Exhaust) build and install my complete system with 2 -1/2″ dual pipe from manifolds to exit, mufflers and a crossover.

There are many YouTube videos with sound clips of different brands and models.  I found that the Flowmaster YouTube channel has some good videos to help narrow choices.  I’m sure other brands have similar videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcqJmwaDfYE

This video helped me decide on the 50 Series Delta:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO0fy2yBNoM&t=145s

Here’s a start/idle/rev/idle sound clip of my daily driver:

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