IMO dont short change yourself, if you have already dropped the money to build a 383 I wouldnt go with anything besides longtubes. I have pacesetters, and while the ceramic coating could be better, they are great. The ground clearance is an issue with my car, since its also lowered which sucks but I have no regrets about getting the headers.

 

I agree, long tubes are a great way to go, but unfortunately, they do not work for everyones needs. The OP stated that he does have emissions to deal with and that the testing center actually does a visual inspection and make sure the cats are in their factory locations. If you get long tubes, you can have the off-road y-pipe modified to have a single or dual cats, however, the placement will be far from factory spec and if this is caught by an inspector, it will easily lead to a failure.