Sounds like a plan!
Only took steve a couple hours. He arrived around 9-10 and we were done by lunch, so labour shouldn't cost too much! I would definitely advise having a flexi after seeing bumble's exhaust. Particularly because when you weld stainless, the heat affected zone loses a load of chromium i think, which significantly weakens it, so movement and vibration leads to fatigue very quickly and then consequently it fractures. I think that was the science behind it anyways
As for the lacquer, It smoked like a chimney when we ran it for the first time with the new exhaust in place, and as you can see it goes that bronze colour
Not sure how long the lacquer will last though...
Max