To be fair the entire vacuum system is easy and cheap to replace, TIP is somewhat pricey but can be picked up for a fair price.
With FMIC, this is not to expensive, considering how cheap piping kits are and you are still left with leftovers. Problem is people not beading! Buy a beading tool or take it to a machine shop.
I still don't understand how the mk4 is unreliable, mine has been abused non stop, plenty of people running k04's reliably. I have seen plenty off mk2 builds with nonstop problems due to the age off the vehicle, surely something newer and plenty off torque would proove better to an extent.
But safety first as DH said, "its not a case of when you will crash, but how soon you will crash", as a lot off track boys have said to me