babyfood1217

so I picked up my 4runner and I was stoked! On the drive home from Cincinnati (about 450-500 miles), I noticed a very quiet/slight tick from the engine bay. I either valves or a small exhaust leak, and it turned out to be the exhaust. It was hardly noticable, and I figured I would save a few bucks and spring for a header down the road. I also need a muffler, but I wasn't going to deal with until it really needed it. Anyway, I pulled out of a local 4xstore where I was checking their prices on full leaf packs (2"-3") and literally as soon as my wheels rolled from parking lot to road, a horrible sound came from my engine compartment. Pulled over right away, and at idle, I could hear anything. Opened the door and gave it some gas, and low and behold, the sound came back. "Great" I'm thinking. I either blew open a crack in my manifold (stock), or threw a hefty chunk of my exhaust gasket out of its' home and onto the road (most likely...I hope). So now my truck is horribly loud and is getting terrible gas mileage, and getting a new header got bumped to the very top of my "to buy" list. That brings me here...

Looking around on this board, pirate4x4, and Ih8mud, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that more people swear by LCE than anything else. I have read validating statements from people who are pleased and still using Thorley, Hedman, and a few others brands, and pretty much a hands down opposition to Pacesetter (GF put a set on her 4.0 wrangler and still regrets it.) One the LCE site it looks like the "street 22r/re" header kit is what I'm gonna want for about $360. Looks like it will include header, downpipe, and any gaskets needed for cat forward. This sound about right so far?

I'm not sure I'm gonna replace the cat right away, but cat-back for my vehicular needs and uses (DD, mostly roads, light trail use currently) I think that a 2.25" to a flowmaster or magnaflow with matching inlet/outlet diameters will be the best choice. Need to do some more cat research, and some fundraising, as I just dumped all my money into buying the truck. What have you all found to be the best source (pricewise) for any of these parts? I know LCE sells LCE, but the other stuff seems to have greatly differing prices from site to site. The post I have read here generally list what brand to get/avoid, but not often where they are being sourced from. Thanks in advance and I'll post some new truck pics asap.