I was able to buy a FMIC for my car for a good price, but it was just the core. I also bought some pieces of steel and some hardware to fabricate the mounting bracket myself. Now all I need is the piping, but I'm having a hard time finding a fairly priced kit that has everything I need without a bunch of stuff that I don't need. I know that some of the couplings that come with these kits are junk, so I'll do my best to stay away from those. I also noticed that some intercooler pipes are flared on the ends whereas others are not. Could I get away with using the unflared ones? If it's cheaper I was going to cut some sections of intercooler hose and see if an exhaust shop could get ahold of some aluminum tubing and custom bend all those pieces for me. What your guys' thoughts? Any of you gone the custom route? Anyone able to piece together a kit at a fair price without reliability problems? I'm thinking 2.25" diameter will suffice, as this is just for my chipped KO3s.

 

You can always buy bends from online that you think you will need (find a similar setup) cut, mark and tape them up and take them to a local welding shop and have them weld up the cuts. As for beaded ends, it keeps the pipe from coming off, a welding shop and weld a few bumps that will do the same or some auto shops can bead roll it for you.

 

I saw a thread on the zine a few weeks ago about a guy who picked up a nice set of polished FMIC hard pipes designed for the B5 for ~$150 on eBay. WAY cheaper than having an exhaust shop custom bend/weld you a set. Have a look through the B5 section and see what you find, the thread was full of links