Hmm. Ok, I think I understand.

heads -> header -> intake side of cat off of focus cat -> pipe that curves around engine to -> flex pipe (?) -> cat in resonator's old place.

Long tubes are probably better tho. So I could just do

heads -> header -> flex pipe -> cat -> cat back. Probably get a little more power that way. Time to do some decision making. At least I know that a Focus header will bolt up to the heads on a Contour.