[Panelfantastic]

Mine is a split so its a little cheaper...but here's my thoughts,
I narrowed my own beam, it was a ton of work especially since I did not know what I was doing... I would not do it again, ever. I know they are expensive but it is much better left to someone who has a jig made and has done several so they know how to avoid mistakes. The beam comes out looking better and your peace of mind stays up.
I bought the 944 brake conversion setup from Oldspeed. Nothing revolutionary in the kit but all the parts they sent were nice. If you were best friends with a machinist and knew exactly how to set everything up, you could build your own caliper bracket and have spindles/races made to allow everything to bolt-on. Franklin has hours and hours in mock-up and machining and that is part of what you pay for.
Bottom line, if you can save up and buy his or someone else's kit, do it. If I started from scratch all over again (heaven forbid), that is exactly what I'd do. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of building my own stuff but some parts really aren't worth getting into.