I think Burns stainless sells mandrel bends cheaper than than. Magnaflow also sells them but not sure if they are cheaper or not.

FMIC with a stock IC is definitely an improvement. If you only plan on going to 11-12 psi, then it is a very good mod to do. If you think that in the future you may step up your set up with a larger turbocharger or run more PSI, you may want to hold off on doing the FMIC stock unit for now - or just put a better one up front.

I say buy a starion/conquest IC from ebay for $75 and put that upfront. Even if you stay at 11-12 psi, it will cool noticeably better than the stock TII unit up front.
The stock unit is still worth the work of mounting it up front - as long as you don't plan serious upgrades in the nearish future.