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This time the bird gets a turbo and manifold. This of course means a lot of cutting with the grinder and even some TIG welding. My decision to use the TIG instead of MIG was simple. Cleaner work, no need to grind away excess material and I just love TIG welding. Investing in a TIG welder is top 3 of things I really needed to take my work to the next level. But I’m getting of topic, I’m not supposed to talk about welding. You are here for turbos and exhaust manifolds.
Where to begin?
Well let’s start with the basics. I had a really nice manifold from my old Opel lying around. At this point I thought it was going to fit perfect….wrong. Yet again I was wrong there was no way it was going to clear the brake booster or hood. One thing was for sure I will not cut a hole in the hood, because it’s a daily driver and it rains a lot where I live. Modifying it is, lets fire up the grinder.
What now?
More cutting and test fitting. One of the challenging parts was to make the turbo fit in the front but keep the power steering pump. Of course I have never seen one manifold that does, why not be the first to build it. I will let the pictures do the talking now otherwise you will be reading for the rest of the night.
Final product
It took a while but it’s finally finished and I must say, It turned out better than expected. For once I have built a manifold that can be removed without removing the engine, lets call that a win. I know the turbo is facing the “wrong” way, but that was the only way to clear the battery, air filter and charge pipes.
