I haven't been around in a while, but I'm finally getting around to getting the bird back together and I'm looking forward to being back on the road this summer. I recently worked out some engine issues and the car is running great again! Thanks again to razmataz for the carb help!!!

I have single exhaust. I know this has been done here before, but I have a quote from a local reputable muffler shop for about $450-$550, depending on mufflers, to run dual 2.5 inch exhaust on my 69 convertible. That includes running it above the X crossmember and either an H pipe or X pipe, if there's enough room for an X pipe. This seems pretty reasonable to me.

So now's the time to decide if I want to leave the stock manifolds, put on some shorty headers and deal with the problems they can bring, or spring for some RARE repro longbranch manifolds. The thing is I'm kind of on a budget.

Will headers, longbranch manifolds, and stock manifolds hook up to the exhaust pipe at the same point, or would the pipe need to be shortened for headers? In other words, can I leave the manifolds stock for now and bolt in some headers or longbranches later without modding the exhaust pipe?