Ah...I'm sorry to hear about the string of bad luck, but it is good to hear that things were always worked out.
I didn't mean to jump to any conclusions and that's why I asked.
Please be sure to post pictures of the end products of all of this work! It sounds like there were quite a few bugs to work out and you've jumped all of the hurdles so far. I'm sure there are some people out there that have yet to install their headers, so having a good reference like this would be great for those people!
I'm sure all of this will be worth it the first time you can really get in it and experience the fruits of all of your time and hard work!