the eventual plan is to put on sidepipes, but at the rate I'm making other improvements I'll never be able to save up $1250 to spend all at once.
The quick and easy solution to the cast iron manifolds are a set of "tight fit headers" from Speedway Motors. They're only $60 for 1.5" primary and $90 for 1 5/8" primary and appear to replace the manifold almost perfectly.
I found this link that Grumpy posted in another thread:
http://victorylibrary.com/mopar/header-tech-c.htm
which suggests to me that I should get the 1.5" primaries for my otherwise stock application. Is that valid?
What other things should I consider? Best route for gaskets?