right right, whatever turbine housing that got shipped with my 30r isnt the gt spec bit, it fits but its certinaly not the gt one as the gt one has 3" outlet while mine only has a 2.5"...this may be contribuiting to some of the weird spool charcteristics that im getting from this turbo.
it kind of irritates me that this happened but it was too late before i noticed.
manifold clearance is fine really, more space than i had originaly expected while more would be nice this will for now.
center section is indeed a 30r center section as is the compressor cover, but like you pointed out the exhaust housing is a touch strange, hopefuly anyone who goes after a 30r in the future will grab the right one.