ive been screwin around with my "project car" for going on 3-4yrs.. ya ridiculous. anyways I have an e46 bmw I wanted to turbo . true to my hmt roots doing it the cheap way and best way. I swapped in a iron block 97 motor and converted it to obd1 and im running dual ECUs, the stock one for all the can bus shit and the obd1 dme just for the engine, easy to tune. but that I mean I can buy a tune. whatever. car is swapped and running great right now.
heres the situation. i want top mounted turbo. for some reason i just don't like bottom mounted turbos in these cars. look it up and see why. i bought a rather bulky borg warner s300sx3-60 88 a/r turbo. there is really no manifold i can buy exactly for my setup that the turbo will forsure fit. if there is, i probably cant afford it.
so i am handy with my mig welder, located the flanges needed for a reasonable price (not easy) and am planning to build a log manifold. this is where you guys come in. i think i should "neck it up" at least once or twice, and probably just feed the farthest runner from the flange right into the end of a size up of tube. i think what i want to use is sch 40 mild steel butt weld elbows and pipe.
what would you guys use - exact pieces - and how would you design it?
heres a cast manifold for reference
heres the turbo, as you can see its FAT. i got a good deal on it and should work good for my goals with room to play
ya im probably going to have to cut my hood up. don't care, already has hail damage