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As mentioned, because the NA lower intake sticks out so much, there is not enough clearance to use the stock TII exhaust manifold as is. In order to make things fit, the manifold must be spaced exactly 2.5" out from the engine block. To little and it won't clear the lower intake, too much and excessive cutting of the inner fender will be required to fit the wastegate. This adapter is made from 2 Racing Beat 13B exhaust flanges, spaced 2.5" (outside to outside) with 2" exhaust pipe. Note that reinforcing bars were also added because I was unsure of the ability of the exhaust pipe to support the weight. Later, those bars made tightening the nuts a little frustrating because of lack of clearance. A ratcheting wrench was used since neither a socket wrench or a standard box/open wrench was flexible enough.
The turbo was then set on the manifold for a test fit. Right away, there was a problem. You will notice that the wastegate actuator is removed in the photos. Unfortunately, it interfered with the inner fender. There were two solutions to this; cut the inner fender or modify the wastegate actuator. More on this later. You will also see that the heater pipe was removed. This was done for clearance.
You can see now exactly how close the turbo sits to the lower intake. In fact, if not for the thickness of the gaskets, there would be virtually no clearance between the two parts. But we're still left with some gaping holes in the intake due to the removal of the air control valve (ACV).
Spacer and manifold options are covered in the Improvements, Changes and New Ideas section. Specifically it refers to eliminating the spacer and building a custom manifold.