Well I went the bypass route. Picked up a 2" elbow at Shucks, cut the crossover, coped the elbow, drilled a hole in the exhaust with a 2" holesaw, and welded it up. I tacked the elbow on the crossover, took it out to weld it up, then bolted it in place and welded it to the downpipe. Future disasembly will require some cutting, and welding place was an advanced course in mig work and cuss words. I used a flashlight to look for holes, and it appears I managed to get a complete weld.

I took pics, but my home puter won't boot, and I don't have the download software at work. Hopefully I'll get it them posted in the near future.

I simply plug welded the old end of the crossover on the driver side header. Now with that out of the way I can bolt on the driver side head, and see about completing my topend rebuild. Looking forward to getting my truck back on the road!