I have a 388sbc, pro-topline 200cc angle plug heads, weiand 7530, 750 carb, 294s comp cam, 1.52 roller rockers, 10.3-1 compression, 10" ATI convertor, and 3.73 gears. I have a flowmaster force II system on the car, and I have to use 1 3/4" headers to match the exhaust ports of the heads. I have a set of headmans on there and the driver side clearance is terrible. I had to bash on the #7 tube pretty good to clear the steering shaft (ball peened it so it wouldn't kill the flow too badly), but after driving the car the 1st time with the new engine/headers the #7 tube is still hitting the steering shaft. Short of beating the tube about 1/2 flat, can a muffler shop cut the section of tubing out and rebend something in there that will clear, or should I just cough up the money for a set of hooker super comps? As far as the rest of the exhaust, it is 2 1/2" mandrel bent with an h-pipe and the flowmaster cross flow muffler. It sounded pretty nice with the mild 350 that was in there, but to me sounds lousy with the much hotter 388. It doesn't have that crisp sound to it that I love...it almost sounds sloppy even though the throttle response is very sharp. I love the sound of the old 40 series flowmasters but am afraid they will be too loud. I was thinking about getting a new 2 1/2" system bent up by a local shop, along with a x-pipe and either some 40 series flows or some hooker aerochambers. I have a set of aerochambers on my truck and they sound awesome, but I don't know what a x-pipe would do to the sound. Does a x-pipe drastically reduce the interior resonance (hate that) of something like the 40 series flowmasters? And since all the local shops can only compression bend pipe, would I be better off going up to a 3" pipe to compensate for the compression bends? This is in a '77 nova with very little room under it, so large case mufflers are out of the question. I want throaty and authoritave, with moderate loudness...not brutally loud where you cant drive ti without getting a headache. Thanks!