skoti89

Moving from CA, to NM, my pipe that bolts to the manifold fell off on the highway. I had a hole in the wall auto shop do a quick weld with it, but now its about to go out again. Ontop of that there are holes in almost every component, even after replacing all donut gaskets.

Im looking to do a complete overhaul. I wish I could afford a header, but I would want a quality one and I dont have 3 or 4 hundred dollars to spend on just that. I have about 4 hundred dollars total or for a good start. Exhaust manifold either needs to be resurfaced or replaced, the pipe that bolts to the cat is done for. The cat is old, probably clogged. I would like to keep a cat on though in case I move to another state that has smog laws( I dont where I live). I have a magnaflow muffler that I hate. Even before any leaks happened, it had no balls. I would like something deep, not ricey. Flowmaster? what size?
I bored 20 over on the engine, over sized cam, K&n filter and Im about to do the intake box/ battery swap. and maybe a supra AFM if I can find one. So a good exhaust is the last step to have a semi suped up engine.

Experiences and thoughts? Should I go OEM or after market manifold, or just go with a quality header and start from there? (I've heard horror stories on buying a cheap header that leaks or doesn't fit) I've heard good things about doug thorely, or LCE

thanks