Ideas for Exhaust for the newbie

[jetfixr]

Hey guys,

I am by no means a gear-head. About 6 years ago I talked my father into giving me the family truck. It is a 1970 C10 that has been in California all of its life. It was sitting on his property and hadn't been run in 3 or 4 years. I had fond memories of the truck, as a kid, he took us camping in it numerous times, towing our 18 foot travel trailer sometimes as far as Alberta Canada (was at least a 2000 mile round trip). The overworked 307 never skipped a beat. We used to go out in the middle of nowhere every season and cut wood (he got to cut, I would drag brush and load the wood in the truck). We had a lot of good times with that old truck. With all that sentimental value attached to the truck, I thought it would be a cool idea to fix it up. The realization that I lacked the knowledge, experience and time to work on it set in after it had sat in my driveway for several years and I was actually considering selling it.
Dad was a healthy and energetic 61 year old who could out-work most men half his age. Well, a little less then a year ago he was diagnosed with an agressive brain tumor and he passed away after an agonizing 6 month battle. Needless to say, the truck now HAS to be fixed-up regardless of the cost or work envolved. It has become my way of not forgetting about dad. I just picked up a 290HP 350 GM crate motor, an edelbrock manifold & 1406 carb, and some Doug Thorley headers (guy at the speed shop said they were top quality and fit very well on that model of truck). I have to rebuilt the exhaust system form the headers back. I don't want the truck to be extremely loud, but I don't want a restrictive exhaust system either. My goal is to have a healthy sounding truck at idle, yet not driving me nuts with a droning sound in that cab while taking extended trips on the highway (2500 to 3000 rpms). Any input on how this exhaust should be designed would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Dan