TBSS VS. Doug Thorley

[East Tex]

I bought a pair of used TBSS exhaust manifolds last year when I was gathering parts for my swap. Both heat shields are dented, cracked, and scratched up. Also all the studs are trashed. I got out my torch and removed the old studs and I have new replacements on hand. But now I am thinking if these will look nice when installed, or maybe I need to just go and buy Doug Thorley THY-324Y-C headers. I thought about buying new heat shields for these old manifolds ($52), but the manifolds will still be rusty and not that nice looking. So then I thought I'll Jet Hot coat these manifolds and not buy heat shields.
Whatever I run, I want it to look nice. I know the headers are expensive but they look nice. I haven't ran headers in many years, but I remember replacing collector flange gaskets all the time. Are today's headers and gaskets better?
With all that said, I'm looking for opinions on manifolds VS headers, Jet Hot coating, and all the above.
Thanks