2.5DT manifolds on 200TDI, final fit

Well the other day I went down and picked up the exhaust manifold from Daren. Once home I had to drill out the holes on the top center flanges to fit the studs. I also replaced the 35mm studs with 25mm. The test fitting showed this would now work!

To get the fit next to the intake manifold I decided to grind part of the new flange and weld to get it to fit between the intake ports.

You can see that I still needed to have the weld surfaced, but I wanted to make sure it would work before having it done.

Once having a satifactory fit I again took the manifold to Andy's Auto and had it surfaced.

After returning home and  putting a bevel on the holes and wire brushing some of the slag off I noticed a crack in the bottom flange hole........

So back down to the welder where Daren ground some of the crack away and filled and even deposited more material to help with not cracking in the future. Even though in the pic you can still see crack remanants I think it is a non critical crack as long as the whole flange doesn't fall off..  ;^0

So I cleaned it up with a file and wire brush, test fitted it and then bolted the turbo on and mounted it to the head. Had a bit of a fiddle with the oil return line being hard to fit to the turbo and the hose in the bottom at the same time but I wiggled it all on.

The new top clamps were a bit of a fiddle also as they have to go on the studs as the exhaust is offered up to the head.

What this has complicated it that the turbo now sits higher and the exhaust downtube from the turbo interfers with the brace for the turbo oil supply line. The down pipe won't go on all the way. Still working on that one.