I'm getting ready to take a short trip in my '80 camper on Sunday.
    Only yesterday I notice that she decided this was a good time to
    shed that patch I put on the exhaust.  I guess this time I better
    fix it for good, right?  Yeah, right!

    The crossover pipe that attaches to the heat exchangers and hooks
    around to connect to the catalytic converter is rusted out.  So I
    start calling around and NOBODY has this part, new or used, at any
    price.  The VW dealer tells me it ould cost $500 to $600 - but its
    no longer available, "your outa luck"!

    NO other luck used either.  Only apparent choice is a local VW guy
    who will patch together a header system for me similar to one he
    did on his own air-cooled Vanagon.  Has a Cat and his passed
    inspection - it's just not as clean looking as the original :(

Would it be an acceptable broadening of this
gentleman's question to ask how one should get
exhaust system parts fabricated if (1) you are
personally incompetent to do this and (2) there
appear to be no "blueprints"?

--dan
'78 bus, with patched header connectors and rotting flanges and so forth