Hanto,
Nice pipes! Yeah, before I started doing my own welding, I took the Pinto to a friend's shop to do a few things. Three YEARS later, I got it back home! He did some great work, and the price was definitely right, but now that I'm welding I can do so much more. If I don't like what I did, I can just redo it, no harm no foul, no hurt feelings, no wasted cash, and no settling for something that I didn't quite have in mind.
The headers are same story: our first attempt didn't turn out so well. There are pics somewhere of the headers bolted on the mocked-up engine, and although they are nice enough, the front pipe hits the alternator, and they are so close to the inner fender that I have to loosen the motor mount to fix them in.
The new ones are a better bet. They fit the MkI/MkII Escorts, which have the same dimensions, frame rail to frame rail as the Pinto. And you're right, the exhaust on the passenger side helps a lot. My first choice was a BDA, which has exhaust on the driver side, and I'm sure it would have been a custom job as well.
I still have some concerns, but I think these will work with little to no mods. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though.