Hi all,

I have a 97 K1500 5.7 350 and about a month ago I noticed a small exhaust leak. The exhaust leak has gotten worse and i can pin point where its coming from (manifold maybe?) however i have noticed a decent loss of power as it is nowhere near as snappy as it used to be and this morning before work as i was backing out of the driveway the engine actually died but started right back up. Could this be from just the exhaust leak or do i have a bigger problem. Also it sounds like im getting some piston slap on start up that started just in the last couple weeks. Currently i am running true dual Flowmaster Super 10's but i have had them for awhile and theyre rusting out. So my question is, first should i do an overhaul on my engine to see if i can get rid of the piston slap and regain some power and secondly i think its about time i trade up to a new exhaust system. I want to run a Magnaflow system but im lost on what i should get. What exhaust system should i get to gain the best sound and good power gains without breaking my bank?

thanks