I have been thinking of the cheapest way to do the hot piping on my 5.3 silverado 03. If i remember correctly i think its possible to put the right manifold to the left side and the left to the right and have the manifolds pointing forward and collect the gases in front near the throttle body, but I am not sure if the driver side manifold would clear the power steering pump and i dont know if the passenger side would clear the a/c...has anyone tried this?

I heard from one guy that he used GTO exhaust manifolds and it cleared everything and all he spent was 200 dollars to buy and weld pipes together and put a flange for the wastegate and turbo.

So that is a pretty cheap hot side 'setup'. I would like some feedback if this has been done in a silverado already, thanks. P.S. I have seen this in an F body but that is a different animal and not interested in their setups. Thanks

 

03rcsb and 02camaross both have done this extremely nice and well documented. My thread also has a pretty extreme budget build.

 

I believe a couple sponsors sell hot pipes for under $1500. However, I bet buying a trick or kbracing Manifold(600) and building the rest would be very cheap. The manifold flip kit is still the cheapest route. You can just flip them upside down and build the crossover and collector if you want.

 

why only the 2003's? what do they have different than any others?

I will be checking your build in a couple of minutes

 

the manifold flip kit is what i want to work with since it is extremely cheap, but i am curious as to if they clear the a/c and power steering in a silverado?

 

Fbody guys commonly switch their manifold sides. Truck guys commonly flip them upside down, so the pipes come up over the accessories. It would more than likely be all up in you accessories pointing down.

I was planning on a flipped manifold build for my truck, but by the time I added up the extras I needed, I just bought the log manifold from kbracing for couple hundred more. Without it I needed: buildable plug wires, electric fans, new coolant overflow, and would have had to of built a turbo mount. Everything fit so much better, it made more sense to buy a nice log. I built everything else. Don't start thinking a flipped manifold is the end all to cheap. Maybe save 200 bucks, but that's it.

 

??? the kbracing manifold is about 400 , i have electric fans already, and couldnt the wires be wrapped with reflective tape/thicker insulation as well as wrapping the stock exhaust manifolds? then the pipe to connect the two manifolds would cost about 200 max with welded flanges and all here in texas, so wraps+piping/welds=300 dollars for the collector pipes, plus another 200 to get the downpipe? so 500 or so , unless i am missing something else.. The coolant overflow is just that an overflow tank and could relocate the tank further back with just a longer hose.. and what do you mean by turbo mount kelsey? the turbo would tip over to one side with such setup? Thanks for replying

 

300 for getting stock manifolds all ready to go for the flip. The plug wires have to be routed around the manifold in most cases. They will prlly burn if not, but may work. Also account for a turbo mount, which unless you are running solid mounts, can get tricky.

I bought a manifold for 450 and built my own downpipe and crossover. I could have saved some on the flipped manifold, but it made fitting an air filter, down pipe, and cold piping much worse.

I'm not saying buy a whole kit, but consider just a manifold if you're on a budget.

 

By turbo mount, I mean bracing to support the weight of the turbo. No problem with the help. Let me know if their is anything else I can help ya with.

 

thank you kelsey, i guess its time for me to weld me a log manifold

you used the stock exhaust manifold on the drivers side for the cross over?