Hi all. I'm a lurker mostly and learning as I go with my vanagon westy
project. I have been all "take" for a while, so here is a little "give."
I DID make my exhaust braces out of electrical conduit as someone has
suggested before.  I was able to avoid the weak spot that someone
mentioned--the one created where you bend the ends flat. It was mentioned
that the homemade braces would be stronger and less likely to break if the
taper on the ends were a gradual one like the vw braces.
This taper was achieved in my garage by taking 2 small wood blocks and
making one side of each block half-round. I taped the blocks to my vice with
duct tape such that when you tighten the vice, the 2 half round surfaces
come together.(never start a project without the duct tape!) Then I gave the
conduit a squeeze and it gave me a nice taper to the flat end.  In other
words, I made a sort of form for my vice to give a little different squeeze.
I'm quite pleased with the results, though the metal in general is not quite
as heavy as the originals. As a bonus, I have enough leftover conduit to
make 2-3 more sets, so these should outlive originals.
Give this a try if you don't want to buy from VW. I got a price from VW and
then confirmed theirs were NOT made of gold. Then I rolled my own!
Jay Schmidt
84 westy 7 seater
77 westy deluxe
71 highroof lawn ornament