Mitch, apart from the funnycars circa around 89/90 (somebody please speak up if the years are wrong) no other cars I'm aware of ever stepped down the pipes like that,Most blown alcohol car just use a 2 1/4 -2 1/2 inch tube for each pipe, so you really only need a single piece of rod and drillout the end. I always manage to crush the end using tube and although its a bit tedious drilling out the ends I didnt waste as much rod as I did tube trying to bend them.
Bill the car looks great, did you get any further with it ?