Stats will stack. Passives from items will not. For example, two metal jacket will give you twice the armor and shield, but two tension bow will not grant a double tension bow effect (although you will still get the additional shield pierce and attack power).
As for the original question in this thread, @Skeletor is right. Upgrading a T1 item into a T2 item will not save you any money or give you more stats.
On the other hand, let's say you were going to eventually build a frostburn,...
Posted: Mar 17, 2015