I'm still mentally avoiding the wheeltubs so I decided lets make a hotside today. Got a pile of truck manifolds behind the shop so I grabbed a pair to get started. They have a flange with studs, so we will cut that off and install vbands. You can see the vband, flex coupler, and reducer in this pic.
The manifold fits very nicely on a 2.5 inch vband, however I dont want pipes that big so we will step down to 2 inch with a reducer. And because the turbo is hard mounted and the engine can move, we need a flex coupler on each side. Make sure you select the kind with the solid metal core for turbo applications. I standard flex coupler will destroy itself rather quickly and possibly take out your turbo from debris.
And through the magic of the internet we now have a hotside. I used a little less then 2 180 degree bends from summit. Bc this is a divided turbo/flange, I've opted for dual 44mm wastegates as you can see their position here.
Quick mock up to check final fitment.
Pulled it all back apart and got the manfolds cleaned, painted, and wrapped in fiberglass wrap. Got them reinstalled/torqued and the spark plugs back in. I dont have the 02 bungs for the new piping so thats gotta wait for the time being. Once i get them put in I will wrap the entire hotside.