You won't get flamed for going with something other than PTE, it's just that nothing else will bolt up easily, or is tailored for the trucks.
For you to get that $830 turbo to fit, you'll have to machine the downpipe or make a new downpipe, then if you wanted to use the external wastegate you have to pay $300-400 for that, plus labor to hook that up, then some sort of boost control for it.
So add it up:
$830 turbo
$350 wastegate (conservative)
$300 labor and parts if you want to make a 3" downpipe and have everything fit (this is very conservative as well - go check pricing on stainless)
back at about $1500 or so eh? So now, will your stock oil fittings fit? Did your fabricator leave enough room for your passenger side plugs? Uh oh, 6 months later, now you want headers, that labor you spend on that wastegate on the crossover is useless, since you will have a new crossover on the headers.
Other notes - the PTE exhaust housing is better than most of the T3 housings out there - you can't really machine anything on the stock exhaust manifolds, as they are cast iron (you can, but kinda worthless).
So NO, you aren't the first one down this road. It's just that for a truck with bolt ons, the PTE setup is going to be hard to beat. Go see what most of the modified Buicks (11-12 second range) use in their cars. Basic Garrett turbos by PTE/Limit Engineering/ etc etc, with Terry Houston style downpipes. Most are going to PTE exhaust housings.
If you want true bang for the buck, the Mitsu 20g stuff can work, but if you are going to want to go faster down the road, it will hold you back; no 3" downpipe, limited HP support, the bad boost control characteristics of the Mitsu's (IMO).
I'm only a fan of the PTE setup because it is an easy bolt on, that doesn't cause the fitment nightmares of fabrication. Easy boost control, especially if you are going to follow a build that I can provide a chip program for, and good performance.
If you want to do a custom Garrett setup, call up Mike. He's done several that have turned out very well, and knows what parts you'd need, and can give you solid pricing. He'll know pretty much what your truck needs, especially over any Turbonetics rep.
