I just put a whole new exhaust system on my 77 Ranger. L&L Nickel plated headers, Series 50 Stainless Steel Flowmasters and 2 1/2" Aluminized pipes that dump behind the rear wheels.
At an idle, you can just barley hear it. Real quiet, real nice. But when you stand on it, everyone can hear those 300 horses. I Love it. It is exactly what I wanted. And with the SST and Nickel/aluminized plating, it should last a good long time.
I am very impressed with those Flowmasters. All welded seams and VERY heavy duty. I think that I could park my whole truck on one of them without hurting it. I've had other systems on this truck in the past, with turbos and smaller pipes, etc. and this is the ONLY way to go as far as I am concerned. It was pricey, but worth every cent.