One of my Toranas has a 253 with a 350 Holley and a set of Pacemaker extractors with a 1 1/4" primary pipe. I bought them to fit on my blown motor but it has 4 into 1's and I like the way they work, so I threw them on the other Torana with a 2" system I built from pipes I had laying around.
They sound pretty good, but I don't have a balance tube and they do drone a bit (but I don't mind that).

253's respond well to a bit of head porting, extractors and a small 4 barrel carby (like a 600 Holley), and a good ignition.