Sorry for not mentioning that, I went in circles with Wbody store about that too. They don't carry DPs for the S&S headers because they have to order them from S&S directly and they cost a fortune.

but here is the kicker about the S&S downpipe: It's just a straight tube. All of the curvature of a normal downpipe is built into the header itself. So I went to my local exhaust shop and had them fab up a "downpipe" for me for $40:

It's just a flange, a length of 2.5" pipe and then the flex (which comes with the S&S headers welds on the end of the pipe. BOOM! You have an offroad pipe. If you want a catted version, you can substitute teh straight pipe for a high flow cat.

It sounds like the headers with the specs that I want would cost a lot more than I am prepared to spend at this point. The powerlog and ported rear however sound like a pretty good solution without breaking the bank - so thats probably the route that I will go. Just for future reference, because I will eventually do full exhaust and headers, exactly how much of a performance jump is going to headers over a DP and PLOG?

Well Tog's claim a 18whp gain and the Plog with DP will net 12-14whp so you decide,I personally would like to see a side by side dyno test on the two setups on the same car ,this would be the only fair comparison IMHO.Chico.

Yeah, I agree. You need a side by side on the same car. I don't believe the hp numbers the vendors throw around. Furthermore, there is more than just the initial hp gain by these mods. With exhaust mods they become even more important as you add other mods. The ability to relieve exhaust gases becomes very important. So I think with a medium/heavy modded car you'd feel the effects of the headers even more over a powerlog.

Just my 2 cents though, and I would like to see a side-by-side.