6G Celicas Forums

I got a stock Evo 8 turbo after helping a friend upgrade his car to a bigger setup, and I really wanted to try it out on my Celica. I've run the TD05 turbos on the Celica and they've been fantastic. The Evo turbo is one of the best factory turbos you can get.

After comparing the turbine flanges between the CT26 and TD05HR, I decided an adapter would be too difficult with my limited machining options:



From there, I started looking at manifold options. I didn't want to spend too much since this was more of a proof of concept, so I checked out the stock Evo 8 manifold. The Evo 8 has the same firing order as the 3S and the turbo uses a twin scroll design so the manifolds have the same 4 to 2 runner design as the 3S. I bought an Evo exhaust manifold gasket and was very surprised - 3 of the exhaust ports are nearly identical to the 3S! The 4th is the same size, but the spacing on the 3S is shorter than the evo. Sadly I didn't take a picture of this...

I ordered the 3rd gen exhaust manifold flange from Full Race for $50 and found a used (ebay) stainless manifold on the evo forums in good shape for $75. Now the cutting:



Then to cut out a small section of the 4th runner to match the 3S:



I added about 1.5" of stainless pipe to push the turbo out a little


Took everything to my local fab shop (Lenger Racing) and for about $125 I had a welded manifold. Total cost of $250, not bad! Add in the O2 housing ( top half of the downpipe ) for $80 and an adapter to mate to the rest of the exhaust.







Power wise, this definitely out-performs the CT26 and an upgraded CT26 w/ 50 trim comp wheel. The CT20B is closer, but I think the Evo still had more power ( especially at 16psi ) though both spooled equally well.

Unfortunately, the ebay manifold is too thin and kept cracking. Was tempted to cut off the ebay section and replace with a thicker ebay manifold or a used high-quality manifold, but have since sold the car.