I remember reading a thread about the guy who did something like a "Y" pipe, using stock manifolds and he didn't like it and went back to stock....i couldn't find that particular thread. I can't remember why or what it was that he didn't like. About all the others that did some kind of re-route seemed to like it though.

I'm kinda like the guy in the first thread you referenced, in that i'm not necessarily looking for hp, although if it happens, then great. #6 valve was burnt, so this should take care of that. And it HAS to flow better...we'll see what happens.

I also made an insert for the main pipe coming off the driver side manifold. It basically reduces the inside pipe diameter to 1 1/2" between the flange and the "Y" so that both exhaust banks are "balanced"...or at least kinda close. It's been demonstrated many times that too big a pipe decreases performance, however the physics work. So hopefully this will help.

It's a free vehicle, so I really don't have anything to lose.....