Need A New Coolant Hose

Hey everybody. So yesterday I was flushing out my cooling system. Figured I'd throw in a new t-stat and check over all the hoses while i was at it. (98 Duratec) Pulled off the lower rad hose, noticed it'd been rubbing on the frame and was showing reinforcing threads. So I figured i'd pick up a new one, no big deal (maybe put some wire loom stuff around it or something). Then I figured i'd check out the hose that goes from the t-stat housing up to the water pump. stuck my hand up in there, and realized it's metal. i thought that was kinda goofy for a water pump, but whatever. so i started fondling it a bit to make sure it was allright, and big chunks of crap fell in my face. and sure enough, the pipe just disintegrated in my hands. which is kind of a pain, yeah, but at least I caught it now and not a week from now when i plan on heading down the mass pike on vacation.

so i'll just pick up a couple new hoses right? i wish. autozone, advance, and carquest don't carry replacements. went to the dearlership. 'bout $30 for the lower hose. $160 some for the "inlet hose". say what? for a hose? fordpartsnetwork has it for $140something which is less bad, but still not what i would classify as 'reasonable,' rockauto doesn't seem to have it at all.

so finally getting to the point of all this rambling ... anyone else had to replace this monster, and if so, anyone know how i can avoid getting raped?