Exhaust weight

You should look at the episode of Engine Masters on mufflers. Flowmaster was rated very low.
True, well, except for the really big race mufflers (see the EM episode of 1000hp mufflers ). But the current setup is way bigger than it needs to be for this motor, and I'm sure it's not a restriction.... and they're quiet.
I do have an alternative, I have a 3 1/2 hooker Aero rearend length system that would save about 50 lbs, that I had on an n/a small block that ran 9s thru the mufflers.