That was a high quality post once again, Mike.
I don't know what there is to add for that.
All I can tell by my experiences is that if you do it right (the custom way, cause there haven't been a "kit" that'll fit right on for 6, though ludespeed.com kit [for PGT!] is supposed to be better quality kit than tkt) you will gain a lot of better performance and acceleration than N/A engine would.
But be aware, custom made systems are very rarely totally problem free. There will be a whole lot of job after the actual turbo install to get it working allright (not to mention that it would work purrrfect!). When making a custom system, you'll need to be familiar with the basic principles of turbo components and how they affect/work with the rest of the setup.
I myself had very good place to build my own stuff and I have access to professional garage/bodyshop tools so that made the thing a whole lot easier. Plus you need to be creative, you need to know how to weld or you need to be ready to learn it.
Even with all the work I made by myself, it all ended up costing (is it ready yet? I dunno. There is still stuff that could be done otherwise to be more near perfect) around $2000. It would be more but for example piping components, I had opportunity to use our business discount and had them for cheaper price.
So what do I recommend for people who wants to do this anyway? Well, I recommend you to gain as much of knowledge about turbos as possible. There are good websites that does explain this very good and then there is our little turbo bible "Maximum boost" by Corky Bell. That book is very valuable to learn how to do the trick and it tells you what you should avoid. People at probetalk always recommend this book and I have a copy in my bookshelf and I like the book. It took over a year of careful reading and self educating for me to be "ready" for starting a project like that. And I had one of the guys at our shop helping me out who had put an aftermarket kit on his Mitsubishi.
But afterall, with whatever problems the turbo might bring to me, I'm overall very happy that I did it. I doubt that I would never have afford to get a car, right from the shop, that pleases me powerwise and appearancewise. Now I do have one. It will take a lot of money to be even near perfect but I think it will all pay off when you first time drive with your turbo'd car and slam the pedal to the medal on 3rd gear. It always makes me grin like this
.
I hope this is considered as a quality post too and gives you something to think about before starting on with your projects. Everytime I see someone who has joined the club of boosted KL series engines, I'm glad to salute them and raise my baseball cap for people who has been so much dedicated to their dreams that have made it reality. Sounds good, eh?
Mici