Welcome to the board! BTW you didn't sound like a jerk at all... you just sound excited about having a cool car. Unfortunately the 96-98's are slower than the 99 up cars so it takes a bit more tweaking to get them up to snuff. If you only see two cats then you definately have an aftermarket setup. You can look at the shape of the pipe and see if it's an X or an H. Everything 96GTS said is good advice. Definately go with gears first. I should have started with them but they are in the plans. If you are real serious then swapping to the 99up heads and intake will net a nice gain. Good luck.
Brett
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66 Tahoe Turquoise Coupe
Laser Red 96GT Ragtop
30 Years & 30 inches apart in the driveway!