The safety stuff is good for sure, I wouldn't run without it on my car. Believe it or not the fumes at idle ect. is all in the tune up, too rich at idle. I drive my car around with open headers on the street quite a bit and I don't even smell like exhaust when I get home. I would also say that with a rich carb the car will be louder idle than with a carb tuned properly. Although my car is loud with open headers it's not as bad as you would think once YR helped me dial in the carb.