And you were sharp enough to pick the lowest production number of the f/g/f. There is something about the 9, but it's leftover from influence back when I was a kid.

The information here will become an information overload, and you probally do best to ask one question at a time. Some things we'll get in pizzing contests. Other things will cause a uniform response.

The exaust will be a dealer's choice response between custom and kits. As with kits, many f/g/f members have installed kit exaust, and you'll they'll tell you the goods and bads.

With the carburator choice, the pizzing contest comes into play. Lots of us like Quadrajets, and we aren't shy about our preference. There are lots of Holleys too, but it seems that some are a little shy about defending Holleys.

I've known lots of people who have had excellent luck with Holleys. Maybe I didn't try hard enough to give a Holley a chance, but I gave up on them decades ago.

I think that the Eldebrock is a warmed over Quadrajet. The thing is that you can set up your own Quadrajet for a fraction of the money, with the same performance results as the warmed over versions.

A Quadrajet is an incredibally simple carburator. As far as working on them, the toughest thing is a silly little tab that goes on a registered tab. It's down inside of a compartment. Once you know how it's installed, you can use a paper clip or a peice of wire as a tool to position it. Other than finding your own way to dink around with this odd design, anyone with a little wrenching skill can set up a Quadrajet. Some people don't have to work in such fasion, but I set mine up with a hit-or-miss trial by error.

Rather than jumping in with any details, you can go far at increasing your knowledge base if you found a junked Quadrajet. You can probally get one for free because the Holley folks call 'em Quadrajunk. After you get your junk carb, do some internet searches. (I didn't save them, but I have looked, and there are many excellent hits for getting information as to the performance guts for a Quad.) Next, tear into the junk carb, so that you know understand what makes what tick.

There is also a little pizzin about choice of 4bbl intakes. One thing to keep in mind is that the stock manifold has shown to have excellent flow, often exceeding aftermarket manifolds.

So if you're trying to stay on a budget--a person of your age isn't on a budget, are you?--your best bang for the buck would be a stock manifold, whatever choice of carburator that you decide to side with in the pizzing contest about carb choice, and dueal exaust. Headers help, but they can be miserable to install. Also, trying to break manifold bolt/studs loose can turn into instant disaster, so ponder this issue if you're thinking about header upgrades. After all, you already have cast iron manifolds, so you can plumb the dueals off the existing flanges.

One warning! These cars are like crack cocaine. One taste of the rock, and it might be a lifetime addiction.