W126 420 sel exhaust options

[macdoe]

Would there be an alternative to this exhaust that Mercedes has put onto my 1988 420 sel ? I really despise the pipe that goes behind the engine and right up tight to the firewall. This pipe definately hinders the access to the bellhousing bolts. We are swapping a running engine in place of the non running engine the car came with and I would rather not put this exhaust back on. I was wondering if there is another engine that came with a more reasonable set up that we could swap in place of the factory design ? I am looking for maybe something like dual exhaust. Also wondering if the exhaust on this car could be converted to just run with a regular single muffler per side instead of the four muffler design....or is this exhaust designed this way for a reason? Thanks.