First Gen Dakota 2.5L Turbo Build

Hey guys. New member here. Pretty sure I know what the answer that I'm going to get is, but was wanting to know if any of you guys had ever seen someone do a turbo 4 cylinder build in a first gen Dakota. Yes, I know most of you will say do a V8 swap, but that's not something I want to do because almost all guys do that. I'm wanting to be different. I also know the cost would be about the same. I mainly want to know what I would have to do to get the intake for the 2.5 turbo motor to mount correctly in the engine bay. It's looking like I would have to cut and weld the intake, but I wanted to be sure

Welcome! You've found the right place, I don't think ANYBODY is going to try to sway you away from a 2.5 here. Don't know the answer but IIRC there are a couple of threads in the archives with info. I do remember something about chopping and welding..

Yes you will have to at minimum cut the elbow off and weld something back on to the other side. A custom exhaust header would also be required. I fit a stock mitus turbo into my 95 but it was a mess of plumbing to get it in. The cold side faces the firewall and the hot side comes out the front. Completely backwards for fitment in the dakota using the stock manifold. I think I have all my pictures on a old computer that the monitor craped out on. I need to power it up and get the pictures off it.