a triplet of exhaust questions

[magnethead]

My friend (1984 C1500 305/350) had his exhaust finally rust off at the back edge of the cab (std cab LWB), so right now he's running with the cat and no muffler.

The exhaust shop in town quoted him 53 dollars to get a glasspack and to put new pipe from where it rusted off to a dump in front of the driver side rear wheel. Does that sound about fair? His truck has a VERY throaty sound to it (think boat with through-hull exhaust), so i told him to skip a muffler, save the 5 bucks, and get a glasspack. It'll quiet the loudness and keep the throat, right?

What is the year cutoff between emmisions and safety inspection? He has all the smog equipment, but being his is an 84, would it pass visual inspection (we dont have hook-up emmisions up here) if he removed the cat and smog pump? and Would it start throwing codes?


That got me to thinking, I have true duals with an H pipe. If I were to use all the factory hangers (keep the factory behind axle exit), what would best fit my 454? I currently have long tube headers and factory 2.25"ish exhaust. I'm not for sure what the collector size is on the headers, i'd imagine 2.75", about how much would it cost for a pair of glasspacks and all new pipes that size-match the collectors? (crew cab LWB) my truck is non-SMOG.

Would I be better off buying the metal, and fabbing it all up myself, to rid the labor fees?