thanks fellas, im pretty happy with how it turned out. might get some powder coating done down the road but for now im liking the raw finish. the sound that this engine makes with a 5" no muffler pipe and non vgt turbo is just sex at every rpm. it has a really deep rumble or drone maybe at 1800 and again at 22-2300 which personally i love. turbo has a much more pronounced whooshing when you cut the throttle which sounds pretty sweet. a quick stab of the throttle and whoever is walking on the sidewalk is damn near jumping out of their shoes if i stab the throttle rolling by with the converter unlocked. its fun
I want to pull the spare tire and the deff tank this weekend to try and get some dead weight off the thing. other that that i have a cross country trip coming up so ill update how it performs going from sea level and through colorado to vegas and back around. not towing anything but i will have my streetbike in the bed so it wont be "empty".
cheers!