With the motor sitting in the truck, now it was time to start building the turbo hotside.
This was a first time affair for both me and my buddy that helped throughout the build, so I did a lot of test fitting and google research deciding exactly where to put the turbo and how we were going to accomplish it. Sticking to the "sloppy" style and attempting to stay within my budget (failed...) I had some old stainless TRD Tundra exhaust that I had saved years ago that looked like would be perfect for this!
I knew I was going to use stock manifolds flipped because the trucks have a lot of room in the engine bay and because headers were WAY out of my price range. I used tow straps, wire, cardboard, and I can't remember what else mocking things up to get it all to fit where I wanted.
We almost burned my barbecue to the ground preheating the manifolds for welding
, that got exciting for a few minutes. Everything worked out in the end though, the BBQ survived and the hotside works fantastic, although I nearly miscalculated the final positioning of the radiator, my crossover has about 3/8" clearance.